Yuxin Mao

The facultative intracellular pathogen Legionella pneumophila is the causative agent of Legionnaires’ disease, potentially fatal pneumonia. Upon entering host cells, L. pneumophila delivers a large number (>350) of effector proteins into the host cell through its Dot/Icm type IV secretion system, leading to the establishment of a specialized membrane-bound organelle, the Legionella-containing vacuole (LCV). 

The research interest of my laboratory primarily focuses on the molecular mechanisms of Legionellapneumophila effectors in hijacking eukaryotic cellular processes, including host membrane trafficking, lipid modifications, ubiquitination, actin cytoskeleton, mitochondrion activities, etc. Our current emphasis is to investigate Legionella pneumophila effectors in hijacking the ubiquitin pathway and the regulation of the host actin cytoskeleton.

We are also interested in elucidating the role and mechanism of ubiquitination adaptor proteins. In collaboration with Dr. Scott Emr at Cornell, we are interested in elucidating the role of specific di-ubiquitination of E3 adaptors and the molecular architecture of the di-ubiquitinated adaptor-E3 complex. 

Selected Publications

1. Wan M, Minelli ME, Zhao Q, Marshall S, Yu H, Smolka M, Mao Y*. Phosphoribosyl modification of poly-ubiquitin chains at the Legionella-containing vacuole prohibiting autophagy adaptor recognition. (accepted by Nature Communications) (2024)
2. Zhang Q, Wan M, Kudryashova E, Kudryashov DS, Mao Y*. Membrane-dependent actin polymerization mediated by the Legionella pneumophila effector protein MavH. PLoS Pathog. (2023).
3. Sulpizioa AG., Minellia ME., Wan M., Burrowesa PD., Wu X, Sanford EJ., Shin J., Williams B., Goldberg ML., Smolka M., and Mao Y*. Protein polyglutamylation catalyzed by a calmodulin-dependent pseudokinase. Elife, (2019).
4. Akturk A, Wasilko DJ, Wu X, Liu Y, Zhang Y, Qiu J, Luo ZQ, Reiter KH, Brzovic PS, Klevit RE, Mao Y*. Mechanism of phosphoribosyl-ubiquitination mediated by a single Legionella effector. Nature. 557(7707):729-733. (2018).

My current major teaching responsibility is BioMG3320 (PRINCIPLES OF BIOCHEMISTRY: MOLECULAR BIOLOGY). This is a large undergraduate course that covers the structure and properties of DNA, DNA replication and repair, synthesis and processing of RNA and proteins, the regulation of gene expression, protein translation, and the principles and applications of recombinant DNA technologies, genomics, and proteomics.

I also led the undergraduate honors thesis group for molecular and cellular. My role as an honors thesis group leader serves not only as a mechanism to monitor thesis quality but also provides the necessary training for the candidates to improve their scientific communication skills.

• BIOG 4990: Independent Undergraduate Research in Biology
• BIOG 2990: Introduction to Research Methods in Biology