Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Feb;22(2):119-131.
doi: 10.1038/s41576-020-00295-8. Epub 2020 Nov 13.

The epitranscriptome beyond m6A

David Wiener  1 , Schraga Schwartz  2
Affiliations
Review

The epitranscriptome beyond m6A

David Wiener et al. Nat Rev Genet. 2021 Feb.

Abstract

Following its transcription, RNA can be modified by >170 chemically distinct types of modifications - the epitranscriptome. In recent years, there have been substantial efforts to uncover and characterize the modifications present on mRNA, motivated by the potential of such modifications to regulate mRNA fate and by discoveries and advances in our understanding of N 6-methyladenosine (m6A). Here, we review our knowledge regarding the detection, distribution, abundance, biogenesis, functions and possible mechanisms of action of six of these modifications - pseudouridine (Ψ), 5-methylcytidine (m5C), N 1-methyladenosine (m1A), N 4-acetylcytidine (ac4C), ribose methylations (Nm) and N 7-methylguanosine (m7G). We discuss the technical and analytical aspects that have led to inconsistent conclusions and controversies regarding the abundance and distribution of some of these modifications. We further highlight shared commonalities and important ways in which these modifications differ with respect to m6A, based on which we speculate on their origin and their ability to acquire functions over evolutionary timescales.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Machnicka, M. A. et al. MODOMICS: a database of RNA modification pathways–2013 update. Nucleic Acids Res. 41, D262–D267 (2013). - PubMed
    1. Jonkhout, N. et al. The RNA modification landscape in human disease. RNA 23, 1754–1769 (2017). - PubMed - PMC
    1. Sharma, S. & Lafontaine, D. L. J. ‘View from a bridge’: a new perspective on eukaryotic rRNA base modification. Trends Biochem. Sci. 40, 560–575 (2015). - PubMed
    1. Lapeyre, B. in Fine-Tuning of RNA Functions by Modification and Editing (ed. Grosjean, H.) 263–284 (Springer, 2005).
    1. Pan, T. Modifications and functional genomics of human transfer RNA. Cell Res. 28, 395–404 (2018). - PubMed - PMC

LinkOut - more resources