Papers by Dirk-Henner Lankenau
Chromosoma, 1995
P-element induced double strand break repair
in Drosophila can be used for studying the mechani... more P-element induced double strand break repair
in Drosophila can be used for studying the mechanisms
of homologous recombination in higher cucaryotes as
well as for targeting and converting genes in their origi-
nal chromosomal environment. So far studies on the mo-
lecular mechanisms of recombination were mainly pos-
sible in fungi. Even though gene targeting through ho-
mologous recombination is becoming a routine instru-
ment in the mouse the underlying molecular events are
by no means clear. The genetics of Drosophila provides
a powerful tool to study the basics of gene targeting and
gene conversion events in higher eucaryotes.
Germline Double-Strand Break Repair and Gene Targeting in Drosophila: A Trajectory System throughout Evolution
Springer eBooks, Sep 11, 2006
Replicative double-strand break (DSB) repair has been predominantly studied in single-celled orga... more Replicative double-strand break (DSB) repair has been predominantly studied in single-celled organisms such as bacteria and fungi who lack the germline of metazoans. In contrast, most studies concerning DNA repair in mammals focused on somatic cells while only few authors engaged in embryonic stem cells. Drosophila represents a field of in vivo biochemistry systems linking DNA repair research with the power
Crossing-over and disjunction
Springer eBooks, 2008
Meiotic Crossing-Over and Disjunction: Overt and Hidden Layers of Description and Control.- Chrom... more Meiotic Crossing-Over and Disjunction: Overt and Hidden Layers of Description and Control.- Chromatid Cores in Meiotic Chromosome Structure and Segregation.- Sister Chromatid Cohesion and Centromere Organization in Meiosis.- Spo11 and the Formation of DNA Double-Strand Breaks in Meiosis.- Synapsis, Double-Strand Breaks, and Domains of Crossover Control in Drosophila Females.- Synaptic and Recombination Nodules in Mammals: Structural Continuity with Shifting Protein Composition.- Human Recombination Hotspots: Before and After the HapMap Project.- Meiotic Nondisjunction-The Major Cause of Trisomy 21.- Meiosis in Arabidopis thaliana: Recombination, Chromosome Organization and Meiotic Progression.- Modified Cell Cycle Regulation in Meiosis.
Nucleic Acids Research, 1990
Micropia: a retrotransposon of Drosophila combining structural features of DNA viruses, retroviruses and non-viral transposable elements
Journal of Molecular Biology, Nov 1, 1988
Trends in Biochemical Sciences, Nov 1, 1995
1988, a meeting was held at Banbury Center entitled DNA Technology and Forensic Science. Particip... more 1988, a meeting was held at Banbury Center entitled DNA Technology and Forensic Science. Participants included Alec Jeffreys (who devised DNA fingerprinting); three of the defense team and one of the prosecutors in the O. J.
Contemporary issues in genetics and evolution, 1993
During the diplotene of the prophase of meiosis, the oocytes of many animal species contain spect... more During the diplotene of the prophase of meiosis, the oocytes of many animal species contain spectacular chromosome structures called lampbrush loops (reviewed e.g. by 4Callan, 1987; 5Davidson, 1986). Their basic function seems to be the synthesis and maintenance of a large pool of pre-zygotic transcripts. In most Drosophila species it is the Y-chromosome that develops lampbrush loops in primary spermatocytes during the prophase of meiosis. The Y chromosome is only needed during spermatogenesis as males lacking the Y chromosome are completely viable but sterile (Bridges, 1916). Except during meiosis, the Y chromosomes remain condensed, a typical feature of heterochromatin. Corresponding to this is its repetitive sequence organization which has caused problems in establishing the true origin of these sequences from the Y chromosomal lampbrush loops (Vogt & 30Hennig, 1983). These difficulties were overcome by the application of the microcloning technique to dissect and then directly clone sequences from less than 0.1 pg of Y chromosomal lampbrush loop DNA (12Hennig et al., 1983; Hennig et al., 1989). In order to succeed with these experiments lampbrush loop structures of primary spermatocytes from Drosophila hydei, known to contain the most distinctive loops among all Drosophila species, were micro-dissected from partial Y chromosomes carrying only one or two lampbrush loops (Hackstein et al., 1982). ‘Microclones’ recovered from the lampbrush loops ‘Threads’ and ‘Pseudonucleolus’ led to the discovery of the micropia retrotransposon family (15Huijser et al., 1988; 20Lankenau et al., 1988>).
Sequential photo-report on the initial encounter with thirty sperm whale beachings during January... more Sequential photo-report on the initial encounter with thirty sperm whale beachings during January/February 2016 in the Southern North Sea, Europe. During just one week two sperm whales beached on Wangerooge island, seven sperm whales stranded on the Dutch coast on Texel island, two floated dead at the rocky island Helgoland, one drifted in the Outer Weser and one stranded off Büsum, Germany. On January 22 nd four sperm whales were sighted at Hunstanton beach, England, with one individual stranding. Four whales beached the next days, not far away at Skegness. On January 31 st eight bulls beached near Kaiser-Wilhelm-Koog, Dithmarschen, Germany followed by two others stranding February 3 rd on Blauortsand offshore to Büsum. One sperm whale stranded at Calais, France on February 2 nd , and a single sperm whale stranded alive between Old Hunstanton and Holmenext-the-Sea on February 4 th . Therefore, the total number of beachings in January/February 2016 in the Southern North Sea summed up to thirty. This is the largest mass stranding in history in the Southern North Sea reported until now. The photo sequence describes the first encounter with these sperm whales on the island of Wangerooge. Its relevance relative to other historic and current sperm whale beachings within the North Sea is given.
Models, means, and evolution
Evolution of Models of Homologous Recombination.- Searching for Homology by Filaments of RecA-Lik... more Evolution of Models of Homologous Recombination.- Searching for Homology by Filaments of RecA-Like Proteins.- Biochemistry of Meiotic Recombination: Formation, Processing, and Resolution of Recombination Intermediates.- Meiotic Chromatin: The Substrate for Recombination Initiation.- Meiotic Recombination in Schizosaccharomyces pombe: A Paradigm for Genetic and Molecular Analysis.- Nuclear Movement Enforcing Chromosome Alignment in Fission Yeast-Meiosis Without Homolog Synapsis.- On the Origin of Meiosis in Eukaryotic Evolution: Coevolution of Meiosis and Mitosis from Feeble Beginnings.- The Legacy of the Germ Line - Maintaining Sex and Life in Metazoans: Cognitive Roots of the Concept of Hierarchical Selection.- Lessons to Learn from Ancient Asexuals.
Lankenau, D.-H. 1993. The retrotransposon family micropia in Drosophila species, p. 232-241. In J.F.McDonald (ed.), Transposable elements and Evolution. Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands
Lankenau, D.-H. 1990. Molecular Structure and Evolution of a Retrotransposon Family in Drosophila. Ph.D. Nijmegen, Nijmegen
Influential genomic components
ABSTRACT
Lankenau, D.-H. 1984. Cytochemische Untersuchungen zur chromosomalen Differenzierung nächst-verwandter Carabiden-Arten (Col., Insecta). Diploma. Münster, Münster
Lankenau, D.-H. 1999. DNA-Reparatur und Transposons in der Drosophila Keimbahn (Habilitation). In DKFZ (ed.), Universität Heidelberg, Ladenburg
Egel, R., D.-H. Lankenau, and A. Y. Mulkidjanian (ed.). 2011. Origins of Life: The Primal Self-Organization. Springer Verlag, Heidelberg
If theoretical physicists can seriously entertain canonical "standard models" even for ... more If theoretical physicists can seriously entertain canonical "standard models" even for big-bang generation of the entire universe, why cannot life scientists reach consensus on how life has emerged and settled on this planet? Scientists are hindered by conceptual gaps between bottom-up inferences (from early Earth geological conditions) and top-down extrapolations (from modern life forms to common ancestral states). This book challenges several widely held assumptions and argues for alternative approaches instead. Primal syntheses (literally or figuratively speaking) are called for in five areas, at least. (1) The first RNA-like molecules may have been selected by solar light owing to their exceptional photostability. (2) Photosynthetically active minerals and reduced phosphorus compounds could efficiently couple the persistent natural energy flows to the primordial metabolism. (3) Stochastic, uncoded peptides may have kick-started an ever tightening co-evolution of protei...
Lankenau, D.-H., and J.-N. Volff. 2009. Transposons and the Dynamic Genome, vol. 4. Springer, Heidelberg
There are only few major key functions that lie beneath the fundamental architecture of metabolis... more There are only few major key functions that lie beneath the fundamental architecture of metabolism and life. These are multiplication, variation and heredity. Only if these factors interact synergistically can Darwinian selection power the evolution of biodiversity. Transposable elements always have played and still play a major role in this process. The genomes of all organisms consist of chromosomes that are built up of double stranded nucleic acid chains on whose stability and integrity the existence of cells depend. While DNA repair warrants the chemical integrity of DNA and protects it from metabolic and environmental mutagens, meiotic recombination and transposable element activity appear to counteract the molecular guardians of genome stability. Transposable elements and their kind often make up the bulk of genomic DNA, often approaching 50% of the genome. By contrast, the classic genes represent as little as 1.8% of genomic DNA, in case of the human genome. This volume gives...
Laufkäfer (Carabidae): verborgene Bewohner des Siebenmühlentals, Indikatoren evolutiver Prozesse und Leitorganismen der Biodiversität
Laufkäfer (Carabidae) eignen sich zur Beantwortung vieler biologischer Fragen. Sie sind besonders... more Laufkäfer (Carabidae) eignen sich zur Beantwortung vieler biologischer Fragen. Sie sind besonders geeignet zum Studium von ökophysiologischen Adaptationen, und sie sind damit gleichzeitig ausgezeichnete Leitorganismen der Biodiversität unterschiedlichster Lebensräume. Ihre nacheiszeitlichen Wanderbewegungen im paläarktischen Raum machen sie zu herausragenden Indikatoren geologisch kurzfristiger Evolutionsprozesse. Im Rahmen des Tages der Artenvielfalt wurden zwischen April und Juni 56 Laufkäferarten im Raume Heidelberg registriert. Das in diesem Aufsatz behandelte Heidelberger Siebenmühlental (Odenwald) ist typisch für eine mitteleuropäische Mittelgebirgslandschaft. Sie wird geprägt durch montane Buchenwaldgesellschaften des Luzulo-Fagion Pflanzengesellschafts-Verbandes. Hier wurden 29 Carabiden Arten festgestellt. Mit insgesamt sechs Arten der Gattung Carabus und einer Art der Gattung Cicindela war dies der artenreichste Zensus für Groß-Carabiden in gesamt Deutschland. Inhaltsverze...
EpigenomeNoE - Frequently Asked Questions
Egel, R., and D.-H. Lankenau. 2008. Recombination and Meiosis - Model, Means and Evolution, vol. 3. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg
Once per life cycle, mitotic nuclear divisions are replaced by meiosis I and II – reducing chroms... more Once per life cycle, mitotic nuclear divisions are replaced by meiosis I and II – reducing chromsoome number from the diploid level to a haploid genome, reducing chroosome number from the diploid level to a haploid genome, reshuffling the homologous chromosomes by their centromeres, and recombining chromosome arms by crossing-over. In animals, all this happens during formation of eggs and sperm – in yeasts before spore formation. The mechanisms of reciprocal exchange at chrossover/chiasmata sites are central to mainstream meiosis. To initiate the meiotic exchange of DNA, surgical cuts are made as a form of calculated damage that subsequently is repaired by homologous recombination. These key events are accompanied by ancillary provisions. These key events are accompanied by ancillary provisions at the level of chromosome core organization, sister chromatid cohesion, and differential centromere connectivity. Great progress has been made in recent years to further our understanding of...
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Papers by Dirk-Henner Lankenau
in Drosophila can be used for studying the mechanisms
of homologous recombination in higher cucaryotes as
well as for targeting and converting genes in their origi-
nal chromosomal environment. So far studies on the mo-
lecular mechanisms of recombination were mainly pos-
sible in fungi. Even though gene targeting through ho-
mologous recombination is becoming a routine instru-
ment in the mouse the underlying molecular events are
by no means clear. The genetics of Drosophila provides
a powerful tool to study the basics of gene targeting and
gene conversion events in higher eucaryotes.