Yi-Tao Yu, Ph.D.

Contact Information

Biography

Research

Our long-range goal is to elucidate the underlying biological principles and functional roles of posttranscriptional RNA modifications. Currently, we are particularly interested in 2'-O-methylation and pseudouridylation in three different types of RNA, including the spliceosomal snRNA involved in pre-mRNA splicing, the telomerase RNA required for telomere length maintenance, and the messenger RNA that encodes a chemical "blueprint" for the production of a protein.

Our recent research has demonstrated that all these three types of RNA can be modified in vivo, either naturally or artificially through the RNA-guided RNA modification mechanisms. Importantly, our experimental data indicate that the posttranscriptional nucleotide modifications contribute significantly to RNA functions. We are currently carrying out three projects, aiming to address some of the fundamental questions regarding RNA modifications.

Credentials

Education

1982
BS | Fudan University
Chemistry

1988
MS | Shanghai Institute of Physiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Neurobiology

1994
PhD | Case Western Reserve University
Molecular Biology

1995-1999
Post-doctoral training | Department of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry, HHMI, Yale University School of Medicine
Molecular Biology

Patents

Patent Title: Targeted Pre-mRNA/mRNA Modification and Gene Regulation
Patent #: 9,238,813
Issue Date: Jan 19, 2016
Country: United States
Invented By: Yi-Tao Yu, Xinliang Zhao

Patent Title: Targeted 2'-O-Methylation of Telomerase Non-Coding RNA
Patent #: 9,273,294
Issue Date: Mar 01, 2016
Country: United States
Invented By: Chao Huang, Yi-Tao Yu

Patent Title: Nonsense Suppression and Genetic Codon Alteration by Targeted Modification
Patent #: 8,603,457
Issue Date: Dec 10, 2013
Country: United States
Invented By: Yi-Tao Yu, Xinliang Zhao

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Publications

Journal Articles

2019
Adachi H, DeZoysa MD, Yu YT. "Detection and Quantification of Pseudouridine in RNA." Methods in molecular biology.. 2019 1870:219-235.

11/8/2018
Adachi H, De Zoysa MD, Yu YT. "Post-transcriptional pseudouridylation in mRNA as well as in some major types of noncoding RNAs." Biochimica et biophysica acta. Gene regulatory mechanisms.. 2018 Nov 8; Epub 2018 Nov 08.

8/2018
De Zoysa MD, Wu G, Katz R, Yu YT. "Guide-substrate base-pairing requirement for box H/ACA RNA-guided RNA pseudouridylation." RNA.. 2018 Aug; 24(8):1106-1117. Epub 2018 Jun 05.

Books & Chapters

2009
Chapter Title: Spliceosomal snRNA pseudouridylation
Book Title: DNA and RNA Modification Enzymes: Structure, Mechanism, Function and Evolution
Author List: Karijolich, J., Huang, C. and Yu, Y.-T.
Edited By: H. Grosjean
Published By: Landes Bioscience 2009 in Austin, Texas

2008
Chapter Title: Functional roles of spliceosomal snRNA modifications in pre-mRNA splicing
Book Title: RNA and DNA Editing: Molecular Mechanisms and Their Integration into Biological
Author List: Stephenson, D., Karijolich, J. and Yu, Y.-T.
Edited By: H. Smith
Published By: John Wiley & Sons Press 2008 in Hoboken, New Jersey

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