| Reverse transcription

Structure of the R2 non-LTR retrotransposon initiating target-primed reverse transcription.

Structure of the R2 non-LTR retrotransposon initiating target-primed reverse transcription.

Article | Wilkinson ME, Frangieh CJ, Macrae RK, Zhang F (2023).
Science (380), 301–308

Structure and biochemistry-guided engineering of an all-RNA system for DNA insertion with R2 retrotransposons.

Structure and biochemistry-guided engineering of an all-RNA system for DNA insertion with R2 retrotransposons.

Article | Edmonds KK, Wilkinson ME, Strebinger D, Chen H, Lash B, Schaefer CC, Zhu S, Liu D, Zilberzwige-Tal S, Ladha A, Walsh ML, Frangieh CJ, Vaz Reay NA, Macrae RK, Wang X, Zhang F (2025).
Nature Communications (16), 6079

Internal initiation of reverse transcription in a Penelope-like retrotransposon.

Article | Frangieh CJ, Wilkinson ME, Strebinger D, Strecker J, Walsh ML, Faure G, Yushenova IA, Macrae RK, Arkhipova IR, Zhang F (2024).
Mobile DNA (15), 12


| RNA splicing

Control of 3' splice site selection by the yeast splicing factor Fyv6.

Article | Senn KA, Lipinski KA, Zeps NJ, Griffin AF, Wilkinson ME, Hoskins AA (2024).
eLife (13)

Structural basis for conformational equilibrium of the catalytic spliceosome.

Structural basis for conformational equilibrium of the catalytic spliceosome.

Article | Wilkinson ME *, Fica SM *, Galej WP *, Nagai K (2021) | * shared first-author
Molecular cell (81), 1439–1452.e9

Mechanism of 5' splice site transfer for human spliceosome activation.

Mechanism of 5' splice site transfer for human spliceosome activation.

Article | Charenton C *, Wilkinson ME *, Nagai K (2019) | * shared first-author
Science (364), 362–367

A human postcatalytic spliceosome structure reveals essential roles of metazoan factors for exon ligation.

Article | Fica SM, Oubridge C, Wilkinson ME, Newman AJ, Nagai K (2019).
Science (363), 710–714

Postcatalytic spliceosome structure reveals mechanism of 3'-splice site selection.

Postcatalytic spliceosome structure reveals mechanism of 3'-splice site selection.

Article | Wilkinson ME, Fica SM, Galej WP, Norman CM, Newman AJ, Nagai K (2017).
Science (358), 1283–1288

Structure of a spliceosome remodelled for exon ligation.

Article | Fica SM, Oubridge C, Galej WP, Wilkinson ME, Bai XC, Newman AJ, Nagai K (2017).
Nature (542), 377–380

Cryo-EM structure of the spliceosome immediately after branching.

Cryo-EM structure of the spliceosome immediately after branching.

Article | Galej WP, Wilkinson ME, Fica SM, Oubridge C, Newman AJ, Nagai K (2016).
Nature (537), 197–201


| Phage biology

TIGR-Tas: A family of modular RNA-guided DNA-targeting systems in prokaryotes and their viruses.

TIGR-Tas: A family of modular RNA-guided DNA-targeting systems in prokaryotes and their viruses.

Article | Faure G *, Saito M *, Wilkinson ME *, Quinones-Olvera N, Xu P, Flam-Shepherd D, Kim S, Reddy N, Zhu S, Evgeniou L, Koonin EV, Macrae RK, Zhang F (2025) | * shared first-author
Science (388), eadv9789
Work highlighted in Molecular Cell.

Phage anti-CRISPR control by an RNA- and DNA-binding helix-turn-helix protein.

Phage anti-CRISPR control by an RNA- and DNA-binding helix-turn-helix protein.

Article | Birkholz N, Kamata K, Feussner M, Wilkinson ME, Cuba Samaniego C, Migur A, Kimanius D, Ceelen M, Went SC, Usher B, Blower TR, Brown CM, Beisel CL, Weinberg Z, Fagerlund RD, Jackson SA, Fineran PC (2025).
Nature (631), 670–677

Structural plasticity and in vivo activity of Cas1 from the type I-F CRISPR-Cas system.

Article | Wilkinson ME, Nakatani Y, Staals RH, Kieper SN, Opel-Reading HK, McKenzie RE, Fineran PC, Krause KL (2016).
The Biochemical journal (473), 1063–72


| Fun RNA biology

Reprogrammable RNA-targeting CRISPR systems evolved from RNA toxin-antitoxins.

Article | Zilberzwige-Tal S, Altae-Tran H, Kannan S, Wilkinson ME, Vo SC, Strebinger D, Edmonds KK, Yao CJ, Mears KS, Shmakov SA, Makarova KS, Macrae RK, Koonin EV, Zhang F (2025).
Cell (188), 1925–1940.e20

Structural insights into the diversity and DNA cleavage mechanism of Fanzor.

Article | Xu P, Saito M, Faure G, Maguire S, Chau-Duy-Tam Vo S, Wilkinson ME, Kuang H, Wang B, Rice WJ, Macrae RK, Zhang F (2024).
Cell (187), 5238–5252.e20

RNA-activated protein cleavage with a CRISPR-associated endopeptidase.

Article | Strecker J, Demircioglu FE, Li D, Faure G, Wilkinson ME, Gootenberg JS, Abudayyeh OO, Nishimasu H, Macrae RK, Zhang F (2022).
Science (378), 874–881

Structure of the OMEGA nickase IsrB in complex with ωRNA and target DNA.

Article | Hirano S, Kappel K, Altae-Tran H, Faure G, Wilkinson ME, Kannan S, Demircioglu FE, Yan R, Shiozaki M, Yu Z, Makarova KS, Koonin EV, Macrae RK, Zhang F (2022).
Nature (610), 575–581


| Reviews

RNA Splicing by the Spliceosome.

Article | Wilkinson ME *, Charenton C *, Nagai K * (2020) | * all authors contributed equally
Annual review of biochemistry (89), 359–388
We made a full set of PyMOL movies to illustrate the molecular dance of splicing! You can check them all out here

Cryo-EM Studies of Pre-mRNA Splicing: From Sample Preparation to Model Visualization.

Article | Wilkinson ME *, Lin PC *, Plaschka C *, Nagai K (2018) | * shared first-author
Annual review of biophysics (47), 175–199


| For a full list of publications, please check Google Scholar.