Jinyue Pu

Dr. Pu received her B.S. in applied chemistry from Central South University, China. She then continued her academic study at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences in China with Professor Gongli Tang and obtained her Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 2012. Her graduate study focused on the functions of genes and proteins involved in the biosynthesis of tetrahydroquinoline natural products. She joined our group in 2014 as a postdoctoral scholar and initiated our group's early efforts in both protein evolution and synthetic biology. She has developed two types of biosensor platforms based on T7 RNA polymerase, which can be easily engineered to respond to diverse inputs, such as small molecules and light, and produce targeted RNA outputs. Currently, she is building a general platform to uncover the molecular basis of the evolution of new functions in interesting human proteins.

Publications:

Pu, J.; Kentala K.; Dickinson, B.C. “Multidimensional chemical control of Cas9 using evolved RNA polymerase-based biosensors.” ACS Chem. Biol., 13, 431-437 (2018).

Pu, J.; Dewey, J.A.; Hadji, A; LaBelle, J.L.; Dickinson, B.C. “RNA Polymerase tags to monitor multidimensional protein-protein interactions reveal competition between Bcl-2 proteins upon pharmacological engagement.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 139, 11964-11972 (2017).

Pu, J.; Zinkus, J; Dickinson, B.C. “Evolution of a split RNA polymerase as a versatile biosensor platform.” Nat. Chem. Biol. 13, 432-438 (2017).

*Song, L.-Q., *Zhang, Y.-Y., *Pu, J.-Y., Tang, M.-C., Peng, C., & Tang, G.-L. "Catalysis of Extracellular Deamination by a FAD-Linked Oxidoreductase after Prodrug Maturation in the Biosynthesis of Saframycin A." Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 56(31), 9116–9120 (2017). (*denotes equal contribution)

Pu, J.; Chronis, I.; Ahn, D.; Dickinson, B.C. “A panel of Protease-Responsive RNA Polymerases respond to biochemical signals by production of defined RNA outputs in live cells.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 136, 15996–15999 (2015).

Pu, J.-Y., Peng, C., Tang, M.-C., Zhang, Y., Guo, J.-P., Song, L.-Q., Tang, G.-L. "Naphthyridinomycin biosynthesis revealing the use of leader peptide to guide nonribosomal peptide assembly." Organic Letters, 15(14), 3674–3677 (2013).

Wang, J.-B., Zhang, F., Pu, J.-Y., Zhao, J., Zhao, Q.-F., & Tang, G.-L. "Characterization of AvaR1, an autoregulator receptor that negatively controls avermectins production in a high avermectin-producing strain." Biotechnology Letters, 36(4), 813–819 (2014).

*Peng, C., *Pu, J.-Y., *Song, L.-Q., *Jian, X.-H., Tang, M.-C., & Tang, G.-L. "Hijacking a hydroxyethyl unit from a central metabolic ketose into a nonribosomal peptide assembly line." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(22), 8540–8545 (2012). (*denotes equal contribution)

Peng, C., Tang, Y.-M., Li, L., Ding, W., Deng, W., Pu, J.-Y., Tang, G.-L. "In vivo investigation of the role of SfmO2 in saframycin A biosynthesis by structural characterization of the analogue saframycin O." Science China Chemistry, 55(1), 90–97 (2012).

Education and Experience:

2014-present: Postdoctoral Scholar, The University of Chicago, Department of Chemistry, with Professor Bryan C. Dickinson

2012-2014: Research Scholar, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China, with Professor Gongli Tang

2007-2012: Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China, with Professor Gongli Tang

2002-2006: B.S. in Applied Chemistry, Central South University, Changsha, China, with Professor Kelong Huang