m6A: An Emerging Role in Programmed Cell Death

Abstract

Programmed cell death is an active extinction process, including autophagy, ferroptosis, pyroptosis, apoptosis, and necroptosis. m6A is a reversible RNA modification which undergoes methylation under the action of methylases (writers), and is demethylated under the action of demethylases (erasers). The RNA base site at which m6A is modified is recognized by specialized enzymes (readers) which regulate downstream RNA translation, decay, and stability. m6A affects many aspects of mRNA metabolism, and also plays an important role in promoting the maturation of miRNA, the translation and degradation of circRNA, and the stability of lncRNA. The regulatory factors including writers, erasers and readers promote or inhibit programmed cell death via up-regulating or down-regulating downstream targets in a m6A-dependent manner to participate in the process of disease. In this review, we summarize the functions of m6A with particular reference to its role in programmed cell death.

Role of Non-coding RNAs in Axon Regeneration after Peripheral Nerve Injury

“…It is dynamically regulated by methyltransferase and demethylase and binding proteins. M 6 A modification regulates cell proliferation, apoptosis and the cell cycle by promoting the maturation of miRNA, the translation and degradation of circRNA, and the stability of lncRNA 98 . When the mammalian nervous system is damaged, m 6 A is involved in regulating protein synthesis and axon regeneration.…”

Genomewide m6A mapping uncovers dynamic changes in the m6A epitranscriptome of cisplatin-treated apoptotic HeLa cells

“…Our gene expression analyses in apoptotic HeLa cells also revealed major perturbations in the amounts of METTL3, METTL14 and RBM15 without any change in FTO (Figure 1). Although these observations clearly suggest a critical role for m 6 A methylation in coordinating different types of cell death (31), a complete m 6 A methylome profiling would be needed to gain insight into the extent of dynamic changes in the m 6 A RNA methylome under cisplatin-induced apoptotic conditions. We detected as many as 972 differentially m 6 A-methylated mRNAs, of which 132 were associated with apoptosis (Figure 2).…”

Development of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/CRISPR-associated technology for potential clinical applications

“…N 6 -methyladenosine (m 6 A) is a common post-transcriptional RNA methylation modification in eukaryote mRNA responsible for mRNA modifications, which sometimes in an abnormal state can trigger a series of diseases[ 66 ]. This was also confirmed by Wilson et al [ 67 ] using an m6A RNA editing tool constructed by phase fusion of dCas13 and gRNA, and precisely edited m 6 A in the nucleus and cytoplasm.…”