prantera Lab Profile

Research Focus: To study the regulation of facultative heterochromatinization during development

We use the mealybug chromosome system to molecularly dissect the regulation of facultative heterochromatinization. In male mealybugs (or lecanoid coccids, Homoptera, Coccoidea), the whole, haploid chromosome set of paternal origin become heterochromatic at mid-blastoderm. In females, instead, both chromosome sets remain euchromatic throughout life cycle. This chromosome system thus offers a very sharp tool to dissect both facultative heterochromatinization and genomic imprinting. We investigate the role of epigenetic modifications in the regulation of imprinted facultative heterochromatinization during the true onset of the phenomenon. Moreover, we have also the opportunity to analyze a unique process of de-heterochromatinization that occurs in some tissues of adult males.