Tasaki Junichi, Rouhana Labib
Safety Science Research, Kao Corporation, 2606 Akabane, Ichikai-machi, Haga-gun, Tochigi, 321-3426, Japan.
Former address: Department of Biological Sciences, Wright State University, 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway, Dayton, OH 45435, United States of America.
bioRxiv. 2025 Jun 5:2025.06.02.657537. doi: 10.1101/2025.06.02.657537.
-methyladenosine (mA) is one of the most prevalent post-transcriptional modifications of eukaryotic RNA molecules. This post-transcriptional modification is essential in biological contexts ranging from metabolism to cellular differentiation and neuronal function. While the role of mA RNA regulation in the soma of planarian flatworms has been previously studied, the presence and biological relevance of this regulatory pathway in the germline of these or other lophotrochozoans remains unknown. Here, we characterize mA RNA regulation factors in the planarian and analyze their function in development of the germline. Enriched expression of orthologs of mA methyltransferase complex components, namely , , and , was detected in ovaries and testes of . Perturbation of these factors by RNA-interference (RNAi) disrupted intermediate steps in oogenesis and spermatogenesis, but the presence of germline stem cells was not affected. Expression of mA "reader" homologs was also detected in the planarian gonads. Sperm development defects were observed upon RNAi, and combined knockdown of , or with that of writers led to increased frequency of germline development defects. These results indicate that regulation of RNA by mA methylation supports male and female germline development in planarian flatworms.
N6-甲基腺苷（mA）是真核RNA分子中最普遍的转录后修饰之一。这种转录后修饰在从新陈代谢到细胞分化和神经元功能等生物过程中至关重要。虽然之前已经研究了mA RNA调控在涡虫扁虫体细胞中的作用，但这种调控途径在这些或其他冠轮动物的生殖系中的存在及其生物学相关性仍然未知。在这里，我们鉴定了涡虫中的mA RNA调控因子，并分析了它们在生殖系发育中的功能。在涡虫的卵巢和睾丸中检测到mA甲基转移酶复合体组分（即 、 和 ）直系同源物的富集表达。通过RNA干扰（RNAi）干扰这些因子会破坏卵子发生和精子发生的中间步骤，但生殖系干细胞的存在不受影响。在涡虫性腺中也检测到了mA“读取器”同源物的表达。RNAi后观察到精子发育缺陷，并且将 、 或 与“写入器”一起敲低会导致生殖系发育缺陷的频率增加。这些结果表明，mA甲基化对RNA的调控支持了涡虫扁虫的雄性和雌性生殖系发育。
