Chromatin Regulation and DNA Repair
A key discovery from the lab is that histone H3K4 methylation marks recruit DNA repair proteins in plants, providing a mechanistic explanation for why mutation rates are lower in gene-rich, H3K4me-enriched regions of the genome. This work has broad implications for understanding the evolution of genome stability.
Current projects:
- H3K4me-associated hypomutation in plants (with Satoyo Oya)
- Convergent evolution of epigenome-recruited DNA repair across the Tree of Life
- Chromatin features predicting intron architecture and mutation rates
Notable papers:
- Pierce et al. (2025) — Intron architecture predicts chromatin features in Arabidopsis thaliana · bioRxiv
- Lensink et al. (2025) — Trans-regulatory loci shape natural variation of gene expression plasticity in Arabidopsis · Genetics
- Rose et al. (2025) — Introns increase gene expression in C. elegans by a mechanism distinct from plants · Scientific Reports
Grey Monroe
Assistant Professor (Associate effective July 1, 2026)
Plant genome biologist studying mutation, DNA repair, and somatic and germline genome dynamics in plants and crops.