Yinan Yuan

"The RNA regulatory system might have been essential prerequisite to both the evolution of developmentally sophisticated multicellular organisms and the rapid expansion of phenotypic complexity into uncontested environment."

Contact

yinyuan@mtu.edu
906-487-1835
Noblet Building 180

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Assistant Professor

PhD, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Making sense of antisense transcription in tree growth and development

I am interested in deciphering the functional role of noncoding RNA (ncRNA) in gene regulation network governing forest tree growth and development. One significant class of such ncRNA is natural antisense transcripts (NATs) which share complimentary sequence with protein-coding genes. Recent studies in direct transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) and whole genome tiling array have revealed that eukaryotic genomes including plant genome encode large amount of NATs transcribed either from opposite strand of genes (cis-NAT) or from different chromosomal locations (trans-NAT). The overwhelming occurrence of NATs represents an important gene phenomenon which has not been characterized in tree genomes.

To reveal these hidden transcripts of tree genomes, we employ a novel experiment method for systematic identification of stress-responsive NATs in plants. The functionality of the identified NATs is explored in Populus and Arabidopsis through a Cas13d-based stand-specific RNA interference knowdown analysis. The ultimate goal of my research is to uncover the regulation network mediated by NATs underlying forest tree growth and development. The results generated will advance our current knowledge base of tree biology for efficient grow, manage and genetic manipulation of “super” forest trees.

Areas of Expertise

Identification and characterization of natural antisense transcripts in woody plants
Functionality of alternative splicing and fusion RNAs in plant growth and development
Sequencing complex plant transcriptome through targeted nanopore direct RNA sequencing methods

Recent Publications

Yuan Y*, Chen C (2018) Widespread Antisense Transcription of Populus Genome under Drought. Molecular Genetics and Genomics 293(4): 1017-1033.
Fueangfung S, Yuan Y, Fang S (2014) Denaturing Reversed-Phase HPLC Using a Mobile Phase Containing Urea for Oligodeoxynucleotide Analysis. Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids 33: 481-488.
Pokharel D, Yuan Y, Fueangfung S, Fang S (2014) Synthetic Oligodeoxynucleotide Purification by Capping Failure Sequences with a Methacrylamide Phosphoramidite Followed by Polymerization. RSC Advances 4: 8746–8757.
Xue L-J, Guo W, Yuan Y, Anino EO, Nyamdari B, Wilson MC, Frost CJ, Chen H-Y, BabstBA,Harding SA, Tsai CJ (2013) Constitutively Elevated Salicylic Acid Levels Alter Photosynthesis and Oxidative State but not Growth in Transgenic Populus. Plant Cell 25: 2714-2730.
Fang S, Fueangfung S, Yuan Y (2012) Purification of Synthetic Oligonucleotides via Catching by Polymerization. In Current Protocols in Nucleic Acid Chemistry (Martin Egli, Piet Herdewijn, Akira Matusda,Yogesh S. Sanghvi, eds.). John Wiley and Sons, New York, Unit 10.14.1-10.14.21.
Yuan Y, Fueangfung S, Lin X, Pokharel D, Fang S (2012) Synthetic 5′-Phosphorylated Oligodeoxynucleotide Purification through Catching Full-length Sequences by Polymerization. RSC Advances 2: 2803-2808.