Yao Lab

Welcome to the Yao Lab

Regulatory non-coding RNAs and RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are important research areas in gene regulation and RNA biology. The Yao Lab’s research includes two themes: 1) Determining the pathophysiological function and regulatory mechanisms of non-coding RNAs and RNA-binding proteins in the cardiac system and in cardiovascular disorders; 2) Elucidating the role of translation machinery and translational control in the cardiovascular system and identifying therapeutic targets for the treatment of cardiac diseases. The overall focus of the Yao Laboratory is to elucidate the pathophysiological function and molecular mechanism of translational control in cardiac health, disease, and crosstalk to other cardiac physiological processes.

The Yao Lab has recently discovered a new type of stress-responsive, protein-directed human RNA switch that regulates expression of vascular endothelial growth factor-A in human monocytic cells (Ray, PS, et al. Nature 2008; Yao, P, et al. Plos Biology 2013) that may play a role in cardiovascular disorders and cancers. We also identified a novel mRNA processing mechanism that expands the human proteome at the posttranscriptional level and regulates gene expression (Yao, P, et al. Cell 2012).

Dr. Yao is currently asking four major scientific questions in his research:

What is the impact of translational control in heart physiology and pathology?
What are the molecular mechanisms of translational regulation in cardiac biology?
How does translation control connect to other biological processes (e.g., transcriptional control, mitochondrial biology, etc.) in the heart?
What is the implication of translational regulation in heart disease treatment?

The Yao Lab recently discovered the molecular mechanism of human glutamyl-prolyl-tRNA synthetase (EPRS) directed translational regulation of proline-rich extracellular matrix protein during cardiac fibrosis and the action of EPRS-targeting drug halofuginone in inhibiting pro-fibrotic protein synthesis at the genome-wide level (Circulation Research, 2020). In this work, we demonstrate that multiple cardiac stresses induce the expression of glutamyl-prolyl-tRNA synthetase (EPRS) that promotes cardiac fibrosis via increased Pro-tRNAPro pool and consequent translation of pro-fibrotic proline codon rich mRNAs (e.g., collagens, LTBP2, SULF1 among others) in cardiac fibroblasts using genome-wide polysome-seq and RNA-seq. This project will provide new insights into the translational control mechanisms in cardiac fibrosis and identify novel disease markers and therapeutic targets to treat heart disease.

We reported the role of miR-574 in regulating VEGFA mRNA translation, which involves RNA switches during the interplay between microRNA and RNA-binding protein based on our recent findings (Nucleic Acids Research, 2017; BBRC, 2019; CSBJ, 2019). We also elucidated the role of the miR-574-FAM210A axis and FAM210A in regulating mitochondrial translational homeostasis and cardiac remodeling (EMBO Molecular Medicine, 2021; Cardiovascular Research, 2023 in press). In addition, we discovered the role of miR-574 host gene FAM114A1 in regulating Ang II signaling and cardiac remodeling (JCI Insight, 2022). Importantly, we found that congenital heart disease and cancer associated protein PRRC2B functions as a novel RNA-binding protein and regulates translation initiation of cell cycle progression related mRNAs, thereby promoting cell proliferation and possibly influencing organ development and cancer formation (Nucleic Acids Research, 2023). This is a missing piece of the “Yamanaka translation factors” hypothesis that is essential for full understanding of embryonic stem cell proliferation or differentiation. In a most recent manuscript, we discover that dsRNA structure regulates "see-saw" translation balance of uORF & mORF and can be targeted by potential ASO RNA drugs (https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.06.15.545153).

We employ various approaches and methods of biochemistry and biophysics, molecular and cellular biology, genetic and surgical mouse models, high throughput multi-omics, and bioinformatic analytic tools to dissect the convergent and divergent regulatory pathways. The long-term objective of our laboratory is to identify novel translation-related molecular mechanisms that control gene expression and conduct pathophysiological function in cardiac system, as well as to develop novel therapeutic approaches for the prevention or treatment of human cardiovascular diseases. We currently have NIH funding to support a research program of translational control of human health and disease and industry funding from Novo Nordisk to develop novel RNA-based drug for treating fibrosis related human diseases including heart failure, liver stenosis, and cancer.

We are actively recruiting postdoctoral associate, staff scientist, and graduate student positions. Please see details in the other Yao Lab webpage and in the Yao Lab’s Twitter: @YaoLabURMC.

Peng Yao, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator

Lab Members

Open Positions

Lab Photos

Publications

View All Publications

1. Baliga UK
2. Yang L
3. Ivanov A
4. Schwartz JL
5. Jiang F
6. Khor ES
7. Das D
8. Wainwright L
9. Yao P
Translational Control in Cardiac Pathophysiology and Therapeutic Development: When mRNA Meets the Heart.; International journal of molecular sciences; Vol 26(16). 2025 Aug 14.
1. Hedaya OM
2. Jiang F
3. Baliga U
4. Ivanov A
5. Chen S
6. Schwartz JL
7. Kawakami Y
8. Yan C
9. Yao P
Upstream open reading frame inactivation augments GATA4 translation and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy in mice.; bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology. 2025 May 18.
1. Hao K
2. Nguyen T
3. Nakada Y
4. Walcott G
5. Wei Y
6. Wu Y
7. Garry DJ
8. Yao P
9. Zhang J
Newborn apical resection preserves the proliferative capacity of cardiomyocytes located throughout the left ventricle.; Stem cells (Dayton, Ohio). 2025 Apr 15.
1. Tumenbayar BI
2. Tutino VM
3. Brazzo JA
4. Yao P
5. Bae Y
FAK and p130Cas modulate stiffness-mediated early transcription and cellular metabolism.; bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology. 2024 Jan 16.
1. Wu J
2. Hollinger J
3. Bonanno E
4. Jiang F
5. Yao P
Cardiomyocyte-Specific Loss of Glutamyl-prolyl-tRNA Synthetase Leads to Disturbed Protein Homeostasis and Dilated Cardiomyopathy.; Cells; Vol 13(1). 2023 Dec 22.
1. Wu J
2. Hollinger J
3. Bonanno E
4. Jiang F
5. Yao P
Cardiomyocyte-specific Loss of Glutamyl-prolyl-tRNA Synthetase Leads to Disturbed Protein Homeostasis and Dilated Cardiomyopathy.; bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology. 2023 Sep 22.
1. Wu J
2. Subbaiah KCV
3. Hedaya O
4. Chen S
5. Munger J
6. Tang WHW
7. Yan C
8. Yao P
FAM210A regulates mitochondrial translation and maintains cardiac mitochondrial homeostasis.; Cardiovascular research. 2023 Jul 31.
1. Hollinger J
2. Wu J
3. Awayda KM
4. O'Connell MR
5. Yao P
Expression and purification of the mitochondrial transmembrane protein FAM210A in Escherichia coli.; Protein expression and purification; Vol 210, pp. 106322. 2023 Jun 15.
1. Hedaya OM
2. Subbaiah KCV
3. Jiang F
4. Xie LH
5. Wu J
6. Khor E
7. Zhu M
8. Mathews DH
9. Proschel C
10. Yao P
Secondary structures that regulate mRNA translation provide insights for ASO-mediated modulation of cardiac hypertrophy.; bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology. 2023 Jun 15.
1. Wu J
2. Subbaiah KCV
3. Hedaya O
4. Chen S
5. Munger J
6. Tang WHW
7. Yan C
8. Yao P
FAM210A Regulates Mitochondrial Translation and Maintains Cardiac Mitochondrial Homeostasis.; bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology. 2023 May 22.
1. Jiang F
2. Hedaya OM
3. Khor E
4. Wu J
5. Auguste M
6. Yao P
RNA binding protein PRRC2B mediates translation of specific mRNAs and regulates cell cycle progression.; Nucleic acids research. 2023 May 01.
1. Subbaiah KCV
2. Wu J
3. Tang WHW
4. Yao P
Ciclopirox Inhibition of eIF5A Hypusination Attenuates Fibroblast Activation and Cardiac Fibrosis.; Journal of cardiovascular development and disease; Vol 10(2). 2023 Jan 29.
1. Subbaiah KCV
2. Wu J
3. Tang WHW
4. Yao P
FAM114A1 influences cardiac pathological remodeling by regulating angiotensin II signaling.; JCI insight. 2022 Jun 07.
1. Wu J
2. Venkata Subbaiah KC
3. Jiang F
4. Hedaya O
5. Mohan A
6. Yang T
7. Welle K
8. Ghaemmaghami S
9. Tang WHW
10. Small E
11. Yan C
12. Yao P
MicroRNA-574 regulates FAM210A expression and influences pathological cardiac remodeling.; EMBO molecular medicine. 2020 Dec 28.
1. Lyu QR
2. Yao P
3. Miano JM
Generating a CRISPR knockout mouse through a strong premature termination codon: a cautionary tale.; Journal of biomedical research; Vol 35(2). 2020 Dec 25.
1. Wu J
2. Subbaiah KCV
3. Xie LH
4. Jiang F
5. Khor ES
6. Mickelsen DM
7. Myers JR
8. Tang WW
9. Yao P
Glutamyl-Prolyl-tRNA Synthetase Regulates Proline-Rich Pro-fibrotic Protein Synthesis During Cardiac Fibrosis.; Circulation research. 2020 Jul 01.
1. Zhao S
2. Dejanovic D
3. Yao P
4. Bhilocha S
5. Sadler T
6. Schirbel A
7. West G
8. Doyon G
9. Lopez R
10. Mao R
11. Kurada S
12. El Ouali S
13. Grassl G
14. Fox PL
15. Cruise M
16. Worthley DL
17. de la Motte C
18. Fiocchi C
19. Rieder F
Selective deletion of MyD88 signaling in α-SMA positive cells ameliorates experimental intestinal fibrosis via post-transcriptional regulation.; Mucosal immunology; Vol 13(4). 2020 Jul.
1. Yao P
2. Fox PL
Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases in cell signaling.; The Enzymes; Vol 48. 2020.
1. Ji C
2. Li Y
3. Kittredge A
4. Hopiavuori A
5. Ward N
6. Yao P
7. Fukuda Y
8. Zhang Y
9. Tsang SH
10. Yang T
Investigation and Restoration of BEST1 Activity in Patient-derived RPEs with Dominant Mutations.; Scientific reports; Vol 9(1). 2019 Dec 13.
1. Chen S
2. Zhang Y
3. Lighthouse JK
4. Mickelsen DM
5. Wu J
6. Yao P
7. Small EM
8. Yan C
A Novel Role of Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterase 10A in Pathological Cardiac Remodeling and Dysfunction.; Circulation. 2019 Dec 05.
1. Venkata Subbaiah KC
2. Wu J
3. Potdar A
4. Yao P
hnRNP L-mediated RNA switches function as a hypoxia-induced translational regulon.; Biochemical and biophysical research communications; Vol 516(3). 2019 Aug 27.
1. Venkata Subbaiah KC
2. Hedaya O
3. Wu J
4. Jiang F
5. Yao P
Mammalian RNA switches: Molecular rheostats in gene regulation, disease, and medicine.; Computational and structural biotechnology journal; Vol 17. 2019.
1. Halawani D
2. Gogonea V
3. DiDonato JA
4. Pipich V
5. Yao P
6. China A
7. Topbas C
8. Vasu K
9. Arif A
10. Hazen SL
11. Fox PL
Structural control of caspase-generated glutamyl-tRNA synthetase by appended noncatalytic WHEP domains.; The Journal of biological chemistry; Vol 293(23). 2018 Jun 08.
1. Arif A
2. Yao P
3. Terenzi F
4. Jia J
5. Ray PS
6. Fox PL
The GAIT translational control system.; Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. RNA; Vol 9(2). 2018 Mar.
1. Techasintana P
2. Ellis JS
3. Glascock J
4. Gubin MM
5. Ridenhour SE
6. Magee JD
7. Hart ML
8. Yao P
9. Zhou H
10. Whitney MS
11. Franklin CL
12. Martindale JL
13. Gorospe M
14. Davis WJ
15. Fox PL
16. Li X
17. Atasoy U
The RNA-Binding Protein HuR Posttranscriptionally Regulates IL-2 Homeostasis and CD4+ Th2 Differentiation.; ImmunoHorizons; Vol 1(6). 2017 Aug 01.
1. Yao P
2. Wu J
3. Lindner D
4. Fox PL
Interplay between miR-574-3p and hnRNP L regulates VEGFA mRNA translation and tumorigenesis.; Nucleic acids research. 2017 May 17.
1. Yao P
2. Eswarappa SM
3. Fox PL
"Translational control mechanisms in angiogenesis and vascular biology."; Current Atherosclerosis Reports. 2015 Jan 01.
1. Huang Q
2. Zhou X
3. Hu Q
4. Lei H
5. Fang Z
6. Yao P
7. Wang AE
"A bridge between the aminoacylation and editing domains of leucyl-tRNA synthetase is crucial for its synthetic activity."; RNA; Vol 20, pp. 1440-1450. 2014 Jan 01.
1. Jia J
2. Yao P
3. Arif A
4. Fox PL
Regulation and dysregulation of 3'UTR-mediated translational control.; Current opinion in genetics & development; Vol 23(1). 2013 Feb.
1. Yao P
2. Potdar AA
3. Ray PS
4. Eswarappa SM
5. Flagg AC
6. Willard B
7. Fox PL
The HILDA complex coordinates a conditional switch in the 3'-untranslated region of the VEGFA mRNA.; PLoS biology; Vol 11(8). 2013.
1. Zhou H
2. Yu M
3. Fukuda K
4. Im J
5. Yao P
6. Cui W
7. Bulek K
8. Zepp J
9. Wan Y
10. Kim TW
11. Yin W
12. Ma V
13. Thomas J
14. Gu J
15. Wang J
16. DiCorleto PE
17. Fox PL
18. Qin J
19. Li AX
"IRAK-M mediates Toll-like receptor/IL-1R-induced NFkB activation and cytokine production."; EMBO Journal; Vol 32, pp. 583-596. 2013 Jan 01.
1. Herjan T
2. Yao P
3. Qian W
4. Li X
5. Liu C
6. Bulek K
7. Sun D
8. Yang W
9. Zhu J
10. He A
11. Carman JA
12. Erzurum SC
13. Lipshitz HD
14. Fox PL
15. Hamilton TA
16. Li AX
"HuR is required for IL-17-induced Act1-mediated CXCL1 and CXCL5 mRNA stabilization."; Journal of Immunology; Vol 191, pp. 640-649. 2013 Jan 01.
1. Yao P
2. Fox PL
"Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases in medicine and disease."; EMBO Molecular Medicine; Vol 5, pp. 332-343. 2013 Jan 01.
1. Yao P
2. Poruri K
3. Martinis SA
4. Fox PL
"Non-catalytic regulation of gene expression by aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases."; Topics in Current Chemistry; Vol 344, pp. 167-187. 2013 Jan 01.
1. Yao P
2. Potdar AA
3. Arif A
4. Ray PS
5. Mukhopadhyay R
6. Willard B
7. Xu Y
8. Yan J
9. Saidel GM
10. Fox PL
Coding region polyadenylation generates a truncated tRNA synthetase that counters translation repression.; Cell; Vol 149(1). 2012 Mar 30.
1. Yao P
2. Fox PL
"A truncated tRNA synthetase directs a 'translational trickle' of gene expression."; Cell Cycle; Vol 11. 2012 Jan 01.
1. Huang Q
2. Yao P
3. Eriani G
4. Wang E
"In vivo identification of essential nucleotides in tRNALeu to its functions by using a constructed yeast tRNALeu knockout strain."; Nucleic Acids Research; Vol 40, pp. 10463-10477. 2012 Jan 01.
1. Jafarifar F
2. Yao P
3. Eswarappa SM
4. Fox PL
"Repression of VEGFA by CA-rich element-binding microRNAs is modulated by hnRNP L."; EMBO Journal; Vol 30:, pp. 1324-1334. 2011 Jan 01.
1. Chen X
2. Ma J
3. Tan M
4. Yao P
5. Hu Q
6. Eriani G
7. Wang E
"Modular pathways for editing non-cognate amino acids by human cytoplasmic leucyl-tRNA synthetase."; Nucleic Acids Research; Vol 39:, pp. 235-247. 2011 Jan 01.
1. Yao P
2. Fox PL
"Sex lethal and upstream ORFs: a bait-and-trap system for ribosomes."; Genome Biology; Vol 12:(12). 2011 Jan 01.
1. Yin W
2. Wan Y
3. Kim TW
4. Yao P
5. Xiao H
6. Zhou H
7. Xiao J
8. Fox P
9. Li X
"The kinase activity of interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase 2 is essential for lipopolysaccharide-mediated cytokine and chemokine mRNA stability and translation."; J Interferon Cytokine Research; Vol 31:, pp. 415-422. 2011 Jan 01.
1. Zhu B
2. Yao P
3. Tan M
4. Eriani G
5. Wang ED
tRNA-independent pretransfer editing by class I leucyl-tRNA synthetase.; The Journal of biological chemistry; Vol 284(6). 2009 Feb 06.
1. Zhou X
2. Yao P
3. Zhu B
4. Ruan L
5. Wang E
"A unique insertion in the CP1 domain of Giardia lamblia leucyl-tRNA synthetase."; Biochemistry; Vol 48:, pp. 1340-1347. 2009 Jan 01.
1. He R
2. Zu L
3. Yao P
4. Chen X
5. Wang E
"Two non-redundant fragments in the N-terminal peptide of human cytosolic methionyl-tRNA synthetase were indispensable for the multi-synthetase complex incorporation and enzyme activity."; Biochimica et Biophysica Acta; Vol 1794:, pp. 347-354. 2009 Jan 01.
1. Ray PS
2. Jia J
3. Yao P
4. Majumder M
5. Hatzoglou M
6. Fox PL
"A stress-responsive RNA switch regulates VEGFA expression."; Nature; Vol 457:, pp. 915-919. 2008 Jan 01.
1. Yao P
2. Zhou X
3. He R
4. Xue M
5. Zheng Y
6. Wang Y
7. Wang E
"Unique residues crucial for optimal editing in the yeast cytoplasmic leucyl-tRNA synthetase revealed by a novel knockout yeast strain."; Journal of Biological Chemistry; Vol 283:, pp. 22591-22600. 2008 Jan 01.
1. Yao P
2. Zhu B
3. Jaeger S
4. Eriani G
5. Wang E
"Recognition of tRNALeu by Aquifex aeolicus leucyl-tRNA synthetase during aminoacylation and editing steps."; Nucleic Acids Research; Vol 36:, pp. 2728-2738. 2008 Jan 01.

Affiliations

Lab Photos

View All Photos

Contact Us

Yao Lab
601 Elmwood Ave
Box CVRI
Rochester, NY 14642

Peng_Yao@urmc.rochester.edu

(585) 276-7722