m6A RNA甲基化修饰在心血管疾病中的作用

N6-甲基腺嘌呤（N6-methyladenosine, m6A）是发生在腺嘌呤N6位的甲基化修饰,它是真核生物信使RNA(messenger RNA, mRNA)中最丰富的转录后修饰。m6A修饰是由甲基化酶、去甲基化酶以及结合蛋白质共同调控的动态可逆的过程,并且影响mRNA的生命周期各个阶段,包括稳定性、剪接、核输出、翻译和降解。近年来,有研究报道m6A连续动态调节在心血管疾病中发挥着重要的作用,包括动脉粥样硬化、心肌缺血再灌注损伤、心肌肥厚、心力衰竭、高血压以及腹主动脉瘤等。本文主要对m6A RNA甲基化修饰的作用机制及其在心血管疾病中的最新研究进展进行概述,此外,同时介绍了m6A 单核苷酸多态性（m6A-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms, m6A-SNPs）在心血管疾病中的应用,以期为心血管疾病的预防及治疗提供新的思路和途径。     

The detection and functions of RNA modification m6A based on m6A writers and erasers

N⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A) is the most frequent chemical modification in eukaryotic mRNA and is known to participate in a variety of physiological processes, including cancer progression and viral infection. The reversible and dynamic m⁶A modification is installed by m⁶A methyltransferase (writer) enzymes and erased by m⁶A demethylase (eraser) enzymes. m⁶A modification recognized by m⁶A binding proteins (readers) regulates RNA processing and metabolism, leading to downstream biological effects such as promotion of stability and translation or increased degradation. The m⁶A writers and erasers determine the abundance of m⁶A modifications and play decisive roles in its distribution and function. In this review, we focused on m⁶A writers and erasers and present an overview on their known functions and enzymatic molecular mechanisms, showing how they recognize substrates and install or remove m⁶A modifications. We also summarize the current applications of m⁶A writers and erasers for m⁶A detection and highlight the merits and drawbacks of these available methods. Lastly, we describe the biological functions of m⁶A in cancers and viral infection based on research of m⁶A writers and erasers and introduce new assays for m⁶A functionality via programmable m⁶A editing tools.     

N6-甲基化腺嘌呤RNA甲基化修饰在中枢神经系统中的作用研究进展

mRNA存在多种转录后修饰,这些修饰调控mRNA的稳定和剪接、翻译、转运等多个过程,进而影响细胞发育、机体免疫、学习认知等重要生理功能。其中m⁶A修饰是转录后修饰中最丰富的一种,广泛存在于mRNA中,调控mRNA的代谢活动,影响基因表达。m⁶A修饰的稳态对神经系统的发育和功能维持至关重要。近年研究发现,在神经退行性疾病、精神疾病和脑肿瘤中均存在m⁶A修饰的身影。因此本文对近几年m⁶A甲基化修饰在中枢神经系统发育、功能及相关疾病中的作用进行总结,为神经系统疾病提供潜在的临床治疗靶点。     

环状RNA的m6A修饰在肿瘤中的作用

环状RNA(circular RNA,circRNA)是一种具有新型环状结构的RNA分子,广泛存在于多种生物体中,具有结构稳定、进化保守、高度丰富和组织特异性等特征。同时,它可通过充当微小RNA(microRNA,miRNA)分子海绵、调控基因转录、结合蛋白质和参与蛋白质翻译等方式发挥生物学功能。且随着高通量测序技术和生物信息学的迅速发展,越来越多的circRNA被发现与肿瘤的发生有关。N6-甲基腺嘌呤(N6-methyladenosine,m6A)修饰是真核生物最常见的一种RNA修饰,它是由m6A甲基转移酶、去甲基化酶和m6A识别蛋白质共同参与的动态可逆的调节过程,广泛参与RNA的核输出、剪接、稳定性、翻译和降解等过程的调控。m6A修饰在多种人类疾病中发挥关键作用,例如癌症和心血管疾病等。近年来,在一些circRNA中也发现了m6A修饰,并报道了其在宫颈癌、结直肠癌、肝细胞癌、非小细胞肺癌和胃低分化腺癌等多种恶性肿瘤发生发展中的作用。本文总结了RNA m6A修饰机制、m6A修饰对circRNA的调控作用,以及circRNA的m6A修饰在肿瘤中的作用,也讨论了m6A修饰的circRNA的潜在临床应用价值,以期为肿瘤的早期诊断、临床治疗和预后判断提供新的思路与途径。     

Probing N6-methyladenosine RNA modification status at single nucleotide resolution in mRNA and long noncoding RNA

N⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A) is the most abundant modification in mammalian mRNA and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA). Recent discoveries of two m⁶A demethylases and cell-type and cell-state-dependent m⁶A patterns indicate that m⁶A modifications are highly dynamic and likely play important biological roles for RNA akin to DNA methylation or histone modification. Proposed functions for m⁶A modification include mRNA splicing, export, stability, and immune tolerance; but m⁶A studies have been hindered by the lack of methods for its identification at single nucleotide resolution. Here, we develop a method that accurately determines m⁶A status at any site in mRNA/lncRNA, termed site-specific cleavage and radioactive-labeling followed by ligation-assisted extraction and thin-layer chromatography (SCARLET). The method determines the precise location of the m⁶A residue and its modification fraction, which are crucial parameters in probing the cellular dynamics of m⁶A modification. We applied the method to determine the m⁶A status at several sites in two human lncRNAs and three human mRNAs and found that m⁶A fraction varies between 6% and 80% among these sites. We also found that many m⁶A candidate sites in these RNAs are however not modified. The precise determination of m⁶A status in a long noncoding RNA also enables the identification of an m⁶A-containing RNA structural motif.     

Regulation of Virus Replication and T Cell Homeostasis by N~6-Methyladenosine

RNA modifications are abundant in eukaryotes, bacteria, and archaea. N~6-methyladenosine(m~6A), a type of RNA modification mainly found in messenger RNA(mRNA), has significant effects on the metabolism and function of m RNAs. This modification is governed by three types of proteins, namely methyltransferases as ‘‘writers' ', demethylases as ‘‘erasers' ',and specific m~6A-binding proteins(YTHDF1-3) as ‘‘readers' '. Further, it is important for the regulation of cell fate and has a critical function in many biological processes including virus replication, stem cell differentiation, and cancer development, and exerts its effect by controlling gene expression. Herein, we summarize recent advances in research on m~6A in virus replication and T cell regulation, which is a rapidly emerging field that will facilitate the development of antiviral therapies and the study of innate immunity.     

The birth of the Epitranscriptome: deciphering the function of RNA modifications

Recent studies have found methyl-6-adenosine in thousands of mammalian genes, and this modification is most pronounced near the beginning of the 3' UTR. We present a perspective on current work and new single-molecule sequencing methods for detecting RNA base modifications.     

Structural Basis for the Discriminative Recognition of N6-Methyladenosine RNA by the Human YT521-B Homology Domain Family of Proteins

N⁶-Methyladenosine (m⁶A) is the most abundant internal modification in RNA and is specifically recognized by YT521-B homology (YTH) domain-containing proteins. Recently we reported that YTHDC1 prefers guanosine and disfavors adenosine at the position preceding the m⁶A nucleotide in RNA and preferentially binds to the GG(m⁶A)C sequence. Now we systematically characterized the binding affinities of the YTH domains of three other human proteins and yeast YTH domain protein Pho92 and determined the crystal structures of the YTH domains of human YTHDF1 and yeast Pho92 in complex with a 5-mer m⁶A RNA, respectively. Our binding and structural data revealed that the YTH domain used a conserved aromatic cage to recognize m⁶A. Nevertheless, none of these YTH domains, except YTHDC1, display sequence selectivity at the position preceding the m⁶A modification. Structural comparison of these different YTH domains revealed that among those, only YTHDC1 harbors a distinctly selective binding pocket for the nucleotide preceding the m⁶A nucleotide.     

环RNA研究概况

在1976年就已经发现RNA可以具有环形形式。但是长期以来对环形RNA(circRNAs)主要是作为一些特例加以研究。随着高通量RNA测序技术以及生物信息学的发展,近几年的研究发现circRNAs在真核生物中普遍存在,并且具有一定的保守性和细胞特异性。越来越多的证据指明circRNAs不是剪切噪音,而是具有一定生物学功能,可能与一系列调控甚至疾病的发生和发展相关。     

N6-甲基腺苷修饰(m6A)在乳腺癌中的研究进展

乳腺癌是女性最常见的癌症之一,也是导致女性癌症死亡的最主要原因.尽管早期乳腺癌的治疗已经取得了极大进展,但晚期伴转移乳腺癌治疗效果较差,具有高复发率和高死亡率.因此,鉴定新的用于诊断和预测乳腺癌转移的分子标记、开发新的治疗策略成为迫切需要.近年来,mRNA的异常N⁶-甲基腺苷修饰(N⁶-methyladenosine,m⁶A)对癌基因功能和表达水平的表观遗传学调控逐渐成为恶性乳腺癌研究的焦点.本文分析和总结了m⁶A甲基化修饰及其调节蛋白参与调控乳腺癌发生发展的最新研究进展,以期为乳腺癌中m⁶A甲基化修饰研究提供新的思路和参考,进一步为乳腺癌的诊断、治疗、预后及监测提供新的有效策略.     

m^6 A RNA甲基化修饰异常在肿瘤中的作用

N6-甲基腺嘌呤(N6-methyladenosine,m6A)是真核生物信使RNA(messenger RNA,mRNA)含量最多的化学修饰之一。m6A修饰主要由m6A甲基转移酶(methyltransferase)催化,m6A去甲基酶(demethylase)去除,并由m6A结合蛋白(binding protein)识别。它广泛参与调控mRNA剪接、加工、翻译和降解等生命周期的各个阶段,且与肥胖和肿瘤等多种疾病及异常的生理功能相关。近年的研究发现,肿瘤中m6A相关蛋白质(METTL3/14、WTAP、FTO、ALKBH5、YTHDFs)的异常表达,引发m6A甲基化的失调,调控致癌基因和抑癌基因的表达参与肿瘤的发生与发展,并与患者预后不良密切相关。随着RNA免疫沉淀测序技术与高通量测序技术和液相色谱等检测技术的快速发展,有关m6A在肿瘤发生发展中的作用机制研究的进展迅猛,靶向m6A也成为肿瘤临床治疗的新方向。本文重点对m6A RNA甲基化相关因子在癌症发生发展中的作用及机制进行综述,总结m6A RNA甲基化检测技术的最新进展,梳理现有文献报道的脱甲基酶抑制剂大黄酸、甲氯芬那酸2(meclofenamic acid2,MA2)和右旋羟戊二酸(R-2-hydroxyglutarate,R-2HG)等在肿瘤靶向治疗中的运用,为以m6A RNA甲基化为切入点的肿瘤防治研究提供思路与理论参考。     

The METTL5-TRMT112 N6-methyladenosine methyltransferase complex regulates mRNA translation via 18S rRNA methylation

Ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) have long been known to carry chemical modifications, including 2′O-methylation, pseudouridylation, N⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A), and N^6,6-dimethyladenosine. While the functions of many of these modifications are unclear, some are highly conserved and occur in regions of the ribosome critical for mRNA decoding. Both 28S rRNA and 18S rRNA carry single m⁶A sites, and while the methyltransferase ZCCHC4 has been identified as the enzyme responsible for the 28S rRNA m⁶A modification, the methyltransferase responsible for the 18S rRNA m⁶A modification has remained unclear. Here, we show that the METTL5-TRMT112 methyltransferase complex installs the m⁶A modification at position 1832 of human 18S rRNA. Our work supports findings that TRMT112 is required for METTL5 stability and reveals that human METTL5 mutations associated with microcephaly and intellectual disability disrupt this interaction. We show that loss of METTL5 in human cancer cell lines and in mice regulates gene expression at the translational level; additionally, Mettl5 knockout mice display reduced body size and evidence of metabolic defects. While recent work has focused heavily on m⁶A modifications in mRNA and their roles in mRNA processing and translation, we demonstrate here that deorphanizing putative methyltransferase enzymes can reveal previously unappreciated regulatory roles for m⁶A in noncoding RNAs.