FWF Principal Investigator Projects Grant for Diego Rodriguez-Terrones
Diego Rodriguez-Terrones, postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Elly Tanaka at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA), was awarded a Principal Investigator Projects Grant by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). The highly competitive fellowship supports high-quality, innovative basic research in Austrian research institutions to foster excellence in research.
In his newly funded project, Diego Rodriguez-Terrones will investigate how transposable elements – jumping genes that move and reinsert themselves within the host’s DNA – contributed to the biological innovations that enabled animals to transition from the sea to living on land. These biological innovations, which occurred over 360 million years ago, included the transformation of fins into limbs, the development of a third heart chamber to facilitate blood flow to the lungs, and the evolution of the tongue for swallowing outside the water.
Such major biological shifts might arise from new genetic sequences acquired from transposons. Transposon-derived sequences can be building blocks for new genes or regulatory elements that catalyze new biological functions, —a process that was crucial, for example, to the evolution of the mammalian placenta around 200 million years ago.
However, studying “in hindsight” today which genetic changes drove a specific evolutionary advance is difficult as, over millions of years of evolution, most transposon sequences in the genome are lost or degenerate.
To address this challenge, Rodriguez-Terrones will examine the genome of the axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum). “Unlike other animals, the axolotl and other salamanders retain most of the DNA from the ancient transposons that infected them throughout evolution,” explains Rodriguez-Terrones. “This “genomic hoarding” has resulted in an enormous genome that acts as a “time vault” of ancient DNA sequences.”
Rodriguez-Terrones will use advanced multi-omics approaches –including genomics, transcriptomics and epigenomics –to explore the vast repository of ancient transposon sequences in the axolotl genome. His goal is to determine whether the regulatory sequences that drove the development of key tetrapod structures, such as the hand and tongue, originally came from transposons. “Uncovering how these regulatory sequences first appeared is essential to understanding major evolutionary leaps, like how animals went from not having hands to having them,” explains Rodriguez-Terrones.
By unlocking the secrets hidden in the axolotl’s genome, this project could shed light on how ancient transposons shaped the emergence of new organs and functions, offering a clearer picture of how life on land began – and how complex traits evolve over time. “I’m very grateful for the support from the FWF, which will allow me to embark on a “genomic archeology” adventure that promises exciting discoveries,” Rodriguez-Terrones comments. “The funding will allow me to establish an independent research direction and is a key milestone in my academic career.”
Diego Rodriguez-Terrones earned his PhD at Helmholtz Zentrum in Munich, Germany, where he studied the waves of transposon activation that occur during early embryonic development. In 2020, he joined Elly Tanaka’s group at the Research Institute for Molecular Pathology (IMP), which in 2024 relocated to IMBA.
The Austrian Science Fund (FWF) is Austria's central funding organization for basic research. FWF Principal Investigator Projects grants support high-quality, innovative basic research across all disciplines. They provide funding for individual researchers or small teams to conduct independent research projects with international impact. Selection is based on scientific excellence and an international peer-review process.