N (6)-Methyladenosine (m(6)A) Methylation in mRNA with A Dynamic and Reversible Epigenetic Modification

Abstract

N (6)-methyladenosine (m(6)A) is the most abundant and reversible internal modification ubiquitously occurring in eukaryotic mRNA, albeit the significant biological roles of m(6)A methylation have remained largely unclear. The well-known DNA and histone methylations play crucial roles in epigenetic modification of biologic processes in eukaryotes. Analogously, the dynamic and reversible m(6)A RNA modification, which is installed by methyltransferase (METTL3, METTL14, and WTAP), reversed by demethylases (FTO, ALKBH5) and mediated by m(6)A-binding proteins (YTHDF1-3, YTHDC1), may also have a profound impact on gene expression regulation. Recent discoveries of the distributions, functions, and mechanisms of m(6)A modification suggest that this methylation functionally modulates the eukaryotic transcriptome to influence mRNA transcription, splicing, nuclear export, localization, translation, and stability. This reversible mRNA methylation shed light on a new dimension of post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression at the RNA level. m(6)A methylation also plays significant and broad roles in various physiological processes, such as development, fertility, carcinogenesis, stemness, early mortality, meiosis and circadian cycle, and links to obesity, cancer, and other human diseases. This review mainly describes the current knowledge of m(6)A and perspectives on future investigations.

Keywords: FTO; N 6-Methyladenosine; Post-transcriptional regulation; mRNA methylation.