= Yingfu Li
{c}
\b[Yingfu Li] is a <biochemist> at McMaster University who studies functional <nucleic acids>, including catalytic <DNA> and <RNA> and their use in molecular sensing. His institutional profile and laboratory biography verify the identity and research connection with <Ronald R. Breaker>.<Yingfu Li profile at McMaster University>[Institutional specialization record; linked laboratory Biography and Research Interests]{ref}
Li is first author, with <Ronald R. Breaker>, of the 1999 primary study measuring chemically driven cleavage of RNA <phosphodiester bonds>. Defined chimeric <DNA>/<RNA> substrates allowed the investigators to examine hydroxide-dependent <transesterification> involving the adjacent $2'$-<hydroxyl group>. This addresses a necessary reference question for studying <ribozymes> and <deoxyribozymes>: how rapidly does the corresponding linkage break without the proposed catalyst?<Kinetics of RNA Degradation by Specific Base Catalysis of Transesterification Involving the 2′-Hydroxyl Group by Yingfu Li and Ronald R. Breaker>[Title, byline and Abstract: defined substrates and specific-base cleavage]{ref}
An original kinetic example illustrates the comparison. Suppose an uncatalyzed linkage has observed <rate constant> $k_0=10^{-5}\,\mathrm{min^{-1}}$ and a tested catalytic condition gives $k_{\rm obs}=0.10\,\mathrm{min^{-1}}$. The rate ratio is $k_{\rm obs}/k_0=10^4$. For a simple <first-order reaction>, the corresponding half-lives are $\ln2/k_0$ and $\ln2/k_{\rm obs}$, approximately 69,315 minutes and 6.93 minutes. These are constructed values, not the study's measured constants. Changing <pH>, <temperature> or substrate structure between the two measurements can change the baseline and therefore the meaning of that ratio.
The connection to molecular sensing is that molecular recognition and reaction are distinct functions. A useful signal can depend on binding a target, changing a catalyst's activity and detecting the resulting product. Quantifying each contribution is more informative than observing an output change without identifying its origin.
\Image[https://www.eng.mcmaster.ca//app/uploads/2024/01/Yingfu_Li_headshot-200x200.jpg]
{title=Yingfu Li in the named McMaster University faculty portrait}
{description=The official McMaster engineering faculty page identifies this external photograph as Yingfu Li.}
Back to article page
