Joseph E. Peters

It was a pleasure working with @PopoMicro on this review of CRISPR-Cas associated transposons (CAST). Hopefully it gives a sense for the diversity of Tn7-like transposons and CRISPR systems that independently combined.go.shr.lc/444PwFh

In addition to a highly collaborative lab environment we interact with a dynamic Microbiology community, DNA Replication, Recombination and Repair group and a growing list of transposon-centered lab cals.cornell.edu/microbiology cals.cornell.edu/microbiology/r…

The Peters lab is looking for a new team member! The role transposons play in evolution, basic mechanisms regulating transposition, and applying transposons as tools for genome modification with a special focus on guide RNA-directed transposition cornell.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/CornellCareerP…

Functional RNA splitting drove the evolutionary emergence of type V CR... sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

@AkankshaThawani @Columbia Congratulations with joining an amazing department! We will have to have you up in Ithaca for a seminar once you have fully settled in with your new position.

🚨 Extremely excited to share that I’m joining @Columbia University as an Assistant Professor! The Thawani Lab will explore how the mobile genome works—how transposons shape us, our DNA and how they can be harnessed to build useful technologies. We’re hiring at all levels! If you're interested in transposons, genome biology, cryoEM, RNA, chromatin, or tool building—let’s talk! Particularly interested in enthusiastic technicians and postdoctoral fellows @ColumbiaBiochem #NewPI #RNANEWS

Here is a link to a new preprint from the lab, a collaborative effort between our lab and Michelle Wang's lab here at Cornell. biorxiv.org/cgi/content/sh…

De novo engineered guide RNA-directed transposition with TnpB-family proteins reveals features of naturally evolved systems biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

A family of linear plasmid phages that detect a quorum-sensing autoinducer exists in multiple bacterial species biorxiv.org/content/10.110… #biorxiv_micrbio

Tn7 family transposons that include all guide RNA-directed transposons (CAST) are common in bacteria. We now find diverse representatives across archaea, many in the Asgard group. Reviving an Asgard element confirmed the exciting behaviors of the family biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

@theCRISPRdrawer Very nice work, congratulations to the whole team! Lambda phage has historically been an important delivery tool for prototypic Tn7 studies and it is nice to see it extending to the other broader Tn7 family members as an all-in-one system.

Happy to share that the final chapter from my PhD is now published! We engineered a phage λ mutant to remove its lysogenic potential and deliver an all-in-one CRISPR-associated transposon (CAST) system for targeted gene insertion within E. coli. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2…

@PopoMicro Note: there is a free-access reprint-link on the Peters lab publications page cals.cornell.edu/microbiology/r…

With ~1/3 of Streptomyces genomes carrying telomeric transposons, these elements compete for the same niche. Identical transposons in different telomeres, both within and between genomes, are occasionally found to be disrupted by other transposons, indicating fierce competition.

In eukaryotes, some transposons target telomeres; in Drosophila, they even replace them. Peters lab and Barabas group show that bacteria with linear genomes also harbor diverse telomeric transposons. doi.org/10.1126/scienc… @JoePetersLab @BarabasGroup

Note: there is a free-access reprint-link on our lab publications page cals.cornell.edu/microbiology/r…

A thread from the Postdoc who led the work on bacterial Telomeric transposons. A wonderful collaboration with the Barabas lab. Officially out in the journal today!

@JoePetersLab Very cool story lead by @JoePetersLab reveals another level of how transposons battle with their hosts. Grateful to have had a chance to participate with Popo @PopoMicro, Joe and the team!

Transposons, or “jumping genes” – DNA segments that can move from one part of the genome to another – are key to bacterial evolution and the development of antibiotic resistance. Cornell researchers have discovered a new mechanism these genes use to survive and propagate in bacteria with linear DNA, with applications in biotechnology and drug development. “This is a big part of their biology,” said senior author Joseph Peters, professor of microbiology in @CornellCALS. “Bacteria are like these little tinkerers. They’re always collecting these mobile DNA pieces, and they’re making new functions all the time – everything in antibiotic resistance is really about mobile genetic elements and almost always transposons that can move between bacteria.” With some technologies not available even five years ago, the researchers identified several families of transposons in cyanobacteria and Streptomyces that, using different mechanisms, can find and insert themselves at the telomere, with benefits for the transposon and their bacterial host. For one, inserting at the end of the chromosome helps the transposon avoid genes for the cell’s core functioning, which reside in the middle of the chromosomes; transposons that can target the ends are less likely to disrupt an essential function or cause cell death. More at news.cornell.edu/stories/2025/0….

@BarabasGroup It was great working with you and Máté on these systems!

@JoePetersLab Congratulations on this cool study! It was a pleasure working with you on this exciting project.

Telomeric transposons are pervasive in linear bacterial genomes | Science science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

Note: there is a free-access reprint-link on our lab publications page cals.cornell.edu/microbiology/r…

Our preprint is now published science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

Note: there is a free-access reprint-link on our lab publications page cals.cornell.edu/microbiology/r…

Researchers @CornellCALS and colleagues have discovered a new method that “jumping genes,” or transposons, use to survive and propagate in bacteria with linear DNA, with applications in biotechnology and drug development. @ScienceMagazine @JoePetersLab news.cornell.edu/stories/2025/0…