Yajun Yang

Dr. Yajun Yang


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

2Years (2025-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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15 May 2025 in Biomolecules
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
BWBin Wu
Bin Wu
FTFujia Tian
Fujia Tian
YYYajun Yang
Yajun Yang
LDLiang Dai
Liang Dai
XZXinghua Zhang
Xinghua Zhang
R-loops are nucleic acid structures composed of an RNA-DNA hybrid (RDH) duplex and a displaced single-stranded DNA (ssDNA), which are fundamentally involved in key biological functions, including transcription and the preservation of genome stability. In an R-loop, the RDH duplex is bent by the folded secondary structures of the displaced ssDNA. Previous experiments and simulations indicated the high bendability of DNA below the persistence length. However, the bendability of a short RDH duplex remains unclear. Here, we report that an RDH duplex exhibits higher bendability than a DNA duplex on the short length scale using single-molecule cyclization experiments. Our molecular dynamics simulations show that an RDH duplex has larger intrinsic curvature and structural fluctuations and more easily forms kinks than DNA, which promote the bending flexibility of RDH from unlooped structures. Interestingly, we found that an RDH duplex composed of a C-rich DNA strand and a G-rich RNA strand shows significantly higher bendability than that composed of a G-rich DNA strand and a C-rich RNA strand in the same CpG island promoter regions, which may contribute to the formation of an R-loop. These findings shape our understanding towards biological processes involving R-loops through the high and sequence-dependent bendability of an RDH duplex.