John Z. Xue

Presented by Hironori Funabiki

B.A., University of Cambridge

Xenopus Dppa2 is a Direct Inhibitor of Microtubule Polymerization Required for Nuclear Assembly

From John Xue’s eloquent British accent, it may be hard to imagine his origin. John was born and raised in Jingbian, a rural town in the Shaanxi province of China, before he moved to London with his parents when he was seven. There, and later at Cambridge University, John cultivated his dry sense of humor, his affection for tennis, and his curiosity about broad aspects of culture and nature before joining the graduate program here.

John’s thesis project was related to one of the first events in human life. All of our lives start when an egg from our mother fuses to the chromosomes of our father. During this process of fertilization, paternal chromosomes are tightly compacted and clustered to facilitate their fusion with the egg. After fertilization, these chromosomes must be decompacted and recruit a nuclear membrane, so that chromosomes can be replicated within a nucleus. In addition, the two parental nuclei must move on microtubule fibers to meet. Through his thesis project, John demonstrated that a novel chromosome-binding protein, Dppa2, plays a critical role in assembling a functional paternal nucleus through destabilizing microtubules. This was the first demonstration that nuclear formation is not simply a process of recruiting nuclear envelope components, but requires active clearing of microtubules around chromosomes.

John, a man of curiosity, always delivered a variety of intriguing information to the lab, from the latest articles I should read to important gossip I should know. John always encouraged lively debates, and regardless of the topic, he knew how to finish heated discussions with a genuine smile we are all going to miss.