Dr. Peng Du

Dr. Peng Du

Principal Investigator
Peking University
BioGRAPHY

I am an assistant Professor in the College of Life Sciences at Peking University, and Principal Investigator in Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences. I received a Ph.D. from Peking University in 2012, and my postdoctoral work was performed at Harvard Medical School. The Du laboratory was established in 2018, the research of which has focused on identification and studying on posttranscriptional RNA regulatory pathways and exploring their biological relevance in mammalian early embryonic development, ESCs and human disease. As well, I am interested in reconstitution of plant unique RNA regulatory pathways in mammalian cells and exploring its potential applications in medicine.

Speaker's Schedule

Dec 20, 2022
13:40 - 14:00
Hangzhou Talk #3
A plant immune protein enables broad antitumor response by rescuing microRNA deficiency
Cancer cells are featured with uncontrollable activation of cell cycle, and microRNA deficiency drives tumorigenesis. The RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RDR) is essential for small-RNA-mediated immune response in plants but is absent in vertebrates. Here, we show that ectopic expression of plant RDR1 can generally inhibit cancer cell proliferation. In many human primary tumors, abnormal microRNA isoforms with 1-nt-shorter 3′ ends are widely accumulated. RDR1 with nucleotidyltransferase activity can recognize and modify the problematic AGO2-free microRNA duplexes with mononucleotides to restore their 2 nt overhang structure, which eventually rescues AGO2-loading efficiency and elevates global miRNA expression to inhibit cancer cell-cycle specifically. The broad antitumor effects of RDR1, which can be delivered by an adeno-associated virus, are visualized in multiple xenograft tumor models in vivo. Altogether, we reveal the widespread accumulation of aberrant microRNA isoforms in tumors and develop a plant RDR1-mediated antitumor stratagem by editing and repairing defective microRNAs.
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