Xinyun “Sherry” Cao, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Endowed Title Southwestern Medical Foundation Scholar in Biomedical Research School Medical School Department Microbiology Graduate Programs Biological Chemistry, Molecular Microbiology Education Undergraduate Shandong Normal University (2011), Biological Sciences Undergraduate East Tennessee State Universit (2011), Biology Graduate School University of Illinois Urbana (2018), Biochemistry Research Interest Bacterial Genetics and Physiology High-Throughput Screening of Novel Transcription Inhibitors Next-Generation Sequencing for Gene Expression Analysis Structure (Cryo-EM) and Function of Bacterial RNA Polymerase and Transcriptional Factors Publications Featured Publications Basis of narrow-spectrum activity of fidaxomicin on Clostridioides difficile. Cao X, Boyaci H, Chen J, Bao Y, Landick R, Campbell EA, Nature 2022 Apr 604 7906 541-545 RNA polymerase SI3 domain modulates global transcriptional pausing and pause-site fluctuations. Bao Y, Cao X, Landick R, Nucleic Acids Res 2024 Mar Programming bacteria for multiplexed DNA detection. Cheng YY, Chen Z, Cao X, Ross TD, Falbel TG, Burton BM, Venturelli OS, Nat Commun 2023 Apr 14 1 2001 A roadmap for designing narrow-spectrum antibiotics targeting bacterial pathogens. Cao X, Landick R, Campbell EA, Microb Cell 2022 Jul 9 7 136-138 Structural basis for backtracking by the SARS-CoV-2 replication-transcription complex. Malone B, Chen J, Wang Q, Llewellyn E, Choi YJ, Olinares PDB, Cao X, Hernandez C, Eng ET, Chait BT, Shaw DE, Landick R, Darst SA, Campbell EA, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021 May 118 19 Enterococcus faecalis Encodes an Atypical Auxiliary Acyl Carrier Protein Required for Efficient Regulation of Fatty Acid Synthesis by Exogenous Fatty Acids. Zhu L, Zou Q, Cao X, Cronan JE, mBio 2019 May 10 3 Understanding and Engineering Distributed Biochemical Pathways in Microbial Communities. Cao X, Hamilton JJ, Venturelli OS, Biochemistry 2019 Jan 58 2 94-107 Lipoate-binding proteins and specific lipoate-protein ligases in microbial sulfur oxidation reveal an atpyical role for an old cofactor. Cao X, Koch T, Steffens L, Finkensieper J, Zigann R, Cronan JE, Dahl C, Elife 2018 Jul 7 Protein moonlighting elucidates the essential human pathway catalyzing lipoic acid assembly on its cognate enzymes. Cao X, Zhu L, Song X, Hu Z, Cronan JE, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2018 Jul 115 30 E7063-E7072 Novel Xanthomonas campestris Long-Chain-Specific 3-Oxoacyl-Acyl Carrier Protein Reductase Involved in Diffusible Signal Factor Synthesis. Hu Z, Dong H, Ma JC, Yu Y, Li KH, Guo QQ, Zhang C, Zhang WB, Cao X, Cronan JE, Wang H MBio 2018 May 9 3 Results 1-10 of 15 1 2 Next Last Honors & Awards K99/R00, NIH Pathway to Independence, 2022-2026 UT Southwestern Endowed Scholar, 2024