Yi-Ling Du

Dr. Yi-Ling Du’s research integrates microbial genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry and analytical chemistry approaches to study the biosynthetic pathway and regulatory mechanism of natural product biosynthesis. The goal is to isolate novel enzymes to catalyze new reactions, to generate “unnatural” derivatives for drug discovery through combinatorial engineering, and to increase the titre of target molecules via manipulation of their regulatory system and optimization of the cellular metabolic flux.

Overall, Dr. Du’s work seeks to understand how natural products are made and how microbes activate their biosynthetic pathways and then generate a high-efficient producer for the target molecules and their derivatives, which will be eventually used for drug discovery.

Recent Publications

Du YL, Ding T, Ryan KS. Biosynthetic O-Methylation Protects Cladoniamides from Self-destruction. Org Lett. 2013 May 2. [Epub ahead of print] (PubMed abstract)

Du YL, Shen XL, Yu P, Bai LQ, Li YQ. Gamma-butyrolactone regulatory system of Streptomyces chattanoogensis links nutrient utilization, metabolism, and development. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2011 Dec;77(23):8415-26. doi: 10.1128/AEM.05898-11. Epub 2011 Sep 23. (PubMed abstract)

Du YL, Li SZ, Zhou Z, Chen SF, Fan WM, Li YQ. The pleitropic regulator AdpAch is required for natamycin biosynthesis and morphological differentiation in Streptomyces chattanoogensis. Microbiology. 2011 May;157(Pt 5):1300-11. doi: 10.1099/mic.0.046607-0. Epub 2011 Feb 17. (PubMed abstract)

Du YL, Chen SF, Cheng LY, Shen XL, Tian Y, Li YQ. Identification of a novel Streptomyces chattanoogensis L10 and enhancing its natamycin production by overexpressing positive regulator ScnRII. J Microbiol. 2009 Aug;47(4):506-13. doi: 10.1007/s12275-009-0014-0. Epub 2009 Sep 9. (PubMed abstract)

Shen X, Li S, Du Y, Mao X, Li Y. The N-terminal hydrophobic segment of Streptomyces coelicolor FtsY forms a transmembrane structure to stabilize its membrane localization. FEMS Microbiol Lett. 2012 Feb;327(2):164-71. doi: 10.1111/j.1574-6968.2011.02478.x. Epub 2012 Jan 4. (PubMed abstract)