Roundtree Ian A, He Chuan
Department of Chemistry, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Institute for Biophysical Dynamics and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The University of Chicago, 929 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Department of Chemistry, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Institute for Biophysical Dynamics and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The University of Chicago, 929 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Curr Opin Chem Biol. 2016 Feb;30:46-51. doi: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2015.10.024. Epub 2015 Nov 26.
Chemical modifications in cellular RNA are diverse and abundant. Commonly found in ribosomal RNA (rRNA), transfer RNA (tRNA), long-noncoding RNA (lncRNA), and small nuclear (snRNA), these components play various structural and functional roles. Until recently, the roles of chemical modifications within messenger RNA (mRNA) have been understudied. Recent maps of several mRNA modifications have suggested regulatory functions for these marks. This review summarizes recent advances in identifying and understanding biological roles of posttranscriptional mRNA modification, or 'RNA epigenetics', with an emphasis on the most common internal modification of eukaryotic mRNA, N(6)-methyladenosine (m(6)A). We also discuss YTH proteins as direct mediators of m(6)A function and the emerging role of this mark in a new layer of gene expression regulation.
细胞RNA中的化学修饰多种多样且十分丰富。这些修饰常见于核糖体RNA（rRNA）、转运RNA（tRNA）、长链非编码RNA（lncRNA）和小核RNA（snRNA）中，它们发挥着各种结构和功能作用。直到最近，信使RNA（mRNA）中化学修饰的作用一直未得到充分研究。最近关于几种mRNA修饰的图谱表明这些标记具有调控功能。本综述总结了在鉴定和理解转录后mRNA修饰（即“RNA表观遗传学”）的生物学作用方面的最新进展，重点关注真核mRNA最常见的内部修饰——N⁶-甲基腺苷（m⁶A）。我们还讨论了作为m⁶A功能直接介导因子的YTH蛋白，以及该标记在基因表达调控新层面中的新兴作用。
