Abstract
N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most abundant internal modification on messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in eukaryotes. It influences gene expression by regulating RNA processing, nuclear export, mRNA decay, and translation. Hence, m6A controls fundamental cellular processes, and dysregulated deposition of m6A has been acknowledged to play a role in a broad range of human diseases, including cancer. m6A RNA immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing (MeRIP-seq or m6A-seq) is a powerful technique to map m6A in a transcriptome-wide level. After immunoprecipitation of fragmented polyadenylated (poly(A)+) rich RNA by using specific anti-m6A antibodies, both the immunoprecipitated RNA fragments together with the input control are subjected to massively parallel sequencing. The generation of such comprehensive methylation profiles of signal enrichment relative to input control is necessary in order to better comprehend the pathogenesis behind aberrant m6A deposition.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Boccaletto P, MacHnicka MA, Purta E, Pitkowski P, Baginski B, Wirecki TK, De Crécy-Lagard V, Ross R, Limbach PA, Kotter A, Helm M, Bujnicki JM (2018) MODOMICS: a database of RNA modification pathways. 2017 update. Nucleic Acids Res 46:D303–D307. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkx1030
Roundtree IA, Evans ME, Pan T, He C (2017) Dynamic RNA modifications in gene expression regulation. Cell 169:1187–1200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2017.05.045
Huang H, Weng H, Zhou K, Wu T, Zhao BS, Sun M, Chen Z, Deng X, Xiao G, Auer F, Klemm L, Wu H, Zuo Z, Qin X, Dong Y, Zhou Y, Qin H, Tao S, Du J, Liu J, Lu Z, Yin H, Mesquita A, Yuan CL, Hu YC, Sun W, Su R, Dong L, Shen C, Li C, Qing Y, Jiang X, Wu X, Sun M, Guan JL, Qu L, Wei M, Müschen M, Huang G, He C, Yang J, Chen J (2019) Histone H3 trimethylation at lysine 36 guides m6A RNA modification co-transcriptionally. Nature 567:414–419. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1016-7
Ke S, Pandya-Jones A, Saito Y, Fak JJ, Vågbø CB, Geula S, Hanna JH, Black DL, Darnell JE, Darnell RB (2017) m6A mRNA modifications are deposited in nascent pre-mRNA and are not required for splicing but do specify cytoplasmic turnover. Genes Dev 31:990–1006. https://doi.org/10.1101/gad.301036.117
Knuckles P, Carl SH, Musheev M, Niehrs C, Wenger A, Bühler M (2017) RNA fate determination through cotranscriptional adenosine methylation and microprocessor binding. Nat Struct Mol Biol 24(7):561–569. https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.3419
Louloupi A, Ntini E, Conrad T, Ørom UAV (2018) Transient N-6-methyladenosine transcriptome sequencing reveals a regulatory role of m6A in splicing efficiency. Cell Rep 23:3429–3437. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2018.05.077
Liu J, Yue Y, Han D, Wang X, Fu Y, Zhang L, Jia G, Yu M, Lu Z, Deng X, Dai Q, Chen W, He C (2014) A METTL3-METTL14 complex mediates mammalian nuclear RNA N6-adenosine methylation. Nat Chem Biol 10:93–95. https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.1432
Wang P, Doxtader KA, Nam Y (2016) Structural basis for cooperative function of Mettl3 and Mettl14 methyltransferases. Mol Cell 63:306–317. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2016.05.041
Lence T, Paolantoni C, Worpenberg L, Roignant JY (2019) Mechanistic insights into m 6 a RNA enzymes. Biochim Biophys Acta Gene Regul Mech 1862:222–229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbagrm.2018.10.014
Jia G, Fu Y, Zhao X, Dai Q, Zheng G, Yang Y, Yi C, Lindahl T, Pan T, Yang Y-G, He C (2011) N6-Methyladenosine in nuclear RNA is a major substrate of the obesity-associated FTO. Nat Chem Biol 7:885–887. https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.687
Zheng G, Dahl JA, Niu Y, Fedorcsak P, Huang CM, Li CJ, Vågbø CB, Shi Y, Wang WL, Song SH, Lu Z, Bosmans RPG, Dai Q, Hao YJ, Yang X, Zhao WM, Tong WM, Wang XJ, Bogdan F, Furu K, Fu Y, Jia G, Zhao X, Liu J, Krokan HE, Klungland A, Yang YG, He C (2013) ALKBH5 is a mammalian RNA demethylase that impacts RNA metabolism and mouse fertility. Mol Cell 49:18–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2012.10.015
Du H, Zhao Y, He J, Zhang Y, Xi H, Liu M, Ma J, Wu L (2016) YTHDF2 destabilizes m6A-containing RNA through direct recruitment of the CCR4–NOT deadenylase complex. Nat Commun 7:12626. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12626
Shi H, Wang X, Lu Z, Zhao BS, Ma H, Hsu PJ, He C (2017) YTHDF3 facilitates translation and decay of N6-methyladenosine-modified RNA. Cell Res 27(3):315–328. https://doi.org/10.1038/cr.2017.15
Li A, Chen Y-S, Ping X-L, Yang X, Xiao W, Yang Y, Sun H-Y, Zhu Q, Baidya P, Wang X, Bhattarai DP, Zhao Y-L, Sun B-F, Yang Y-G (2017) Cytoplasmic m6A reader YTHDF3 promotes mRNA translation. Cell Res 1:1–4. https://doi.org/10.1038/cr.2017.10
Lesbirel S, Wilson SA (2018) The m6A-methylase complex and mRNA export. Biochim Biophys Acta Gene Regul Mech 1862(3):319–328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbagrm.2018.09.008
Roundtree IA, Luo G-Z, Zhang Z, Wang X, Zhou T, Cui Y, Sha J, Huang X, Guerrero L, Xie P, He E, Bin Shen CH (2017) YTHDC1 mediates nuclear export of N6-methyladenosine methylated mRNAs. Elife 6:e31311
Wang X, Lu Z, Gomez A, Hon GC, Yue Y, Han D, Fu Y, Parisien M, Dai Q, Jia G, Ren B, Pan T, He C (2014) N 6-methyladenosine-dependent regulation of messenger RNA stability. Nature 505:117–120. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12730
Wang X, Zhao BS, Roundtree IA, Lu Z, Han D, Ma H, Weng X, Chen K, Shi H, He C (2015) N6-methyladenosine modulates messenger RNA translation efficiency. Cell 161:1388–1399. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2015.05.014
Batista PJ, Molinie B, Wang J, Qu K, Zhang J, Li L, Bouley DM, Lujan E, Haddad B, Daneshvar K, Carter AC, Flynn RA, Zhou C, Lim KS, Dedon P, Wernig M, Mullen AC, Xing Y, Giallourakis CC, Chang HY (2014) M6A RNA modification controls cell fate transition in mammalian embryonic stem cells. Cell Stem Cell 15:707–719. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2014.09.019
Geula S, Moshitch-Moshkovitz S, Dominissini D, Mansour AAF, Kol N, Salmon-Divon M, Hershkovitz V, Peer E, Mor N, Manor YS, Ben-Haim MS, Eyal E, Yunger S, Pinto Y, Jaitin DA, Viukov S, Rais Y, Krupalnik V, Chomsky E, Zerbib M, Maza I, Rechavi Y, Massarwa R, Hanna S, Amit I, Levanon EY, Amariglio N, Stern-Ginossar N, Novershtern N, Rechavi G, Hanna JH (2015) m6A mRNA methylation facilitates resolution of naïve pluripotency toward differentiation. Science 347:1002–1006. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1261417
Aguilo F, Zhang F, Sancho A, Fidalgo M, Di Cecilia S, Vashisht A, Lee D, Chen C, Rengasamy M, Jahouh F, Roman A, Krig SR, Wang R, Zhang W, Wohlschlegel JA, Wang J, Walsh MJ (2015) Coordination of m6 a mRNA methylation and gene transcription by ZFP217 regulates pluripotency and reprogramming. Cell Stem Cell 17:689–704. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2015.09.005.Coordination
Malla S, Melguizo-Sanchis D, Aguilo F (2018) Steering pluripotency and differentiation with N6-methyladenosine RNA modification. Biochim Biophys Acta Gene Regul Mech 1862(3):394–340. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbagrm.2018.10.013
Aguilo F, Walsh MJ (2017) ScienceDirect the N 6 -Methyladenosine RNA modification in pluripotency and reprogramming. Curr Opin Genet Dev 46:77–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gde.2017.06.006
Fustin JM, Doi M, Yamaguchi Y, Hida H, Nishimura S, Yoshida M, Isagawa T, Morioka MS, Kakeya H, Manabe I, Okamura H (2013) RNA-methylation-dependent RNA processing controls the speed of the circadian clock. Cell 155:793–806. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2013.10.026
Tang C, Klukovich R, Peng H, Wang Z, Yu T, Zhang Y, Zheng H (2017) Splicing and stability of long 3 ′ -UTR mRNAs in male germ cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 115(2):E325–E333. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1717794115
Lin S, Choe J, Du P, Triboulet R, Gregory RI, Lin S, Choe J, Du P, Triboulet R, Gregory RI (2016) The m 6 a methyltransferase METTL3 promotes translation in human cancer cells article the m 6 a methyltransferase METTL3 promotes translation in human cancer cells. Mol Cell:1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2016.03.021
Cui Q, Shi H, Ye P, Li L, Qu Q, Sun G, Sun G, Lu Z, Huang Y, Yang C-G, Riggs AD, He C, Shi Y (2017) M 6 a RNA methylation regulates the self-renewal and tumorigenesis of glioblastoma stem cells. Cell Rep 18:2622–2634. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2017.02.059
Xie W, Ma LL, Xu YQ, Wang BH, Li SM (2019) METTL3 inhibits hepatic insulin sensitivity via N6-methyladenosine modification of Fasn mRNA and promoting fatty acid metabolism. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 518:120–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2019.08.018
Desrosiers R, Friderici K, Rottman F (1974) Identification of methylated nucleosides in messenger RNA from Novikoff hepatoma cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 71:3971–3975. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.71.10.3971
Perry RP, Kelley DE (1974) Existence of methylated messenger RNA in mouse L cells. Cell 1:37–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/0092-8674(74)90153-6
Lavi S, Shatkin AJ (1975) Methylated simian virus 40 specific RNA from nuclei and cytoplasm of infected BSC 1 cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 72:2012–2016. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.72.6.2012
Wei C-M, Gershowitz A, Moss B (1975) Methylated nucleotides block 5′ terminus of HeLa cell messenger RNA. Cell 4:379–386. https://doi.org/10.1016/0092-8674(75)90158-0
Wei CM, Moss B (1977) Nucleotide sequences at the N6-Methyladenosine sites of HeLa cell messenger ribonucleic acid. Biochemistry 16:1672–1676. https://doi.org/10.1021/bi00627a023
Schibler U, Kelley DE, Perry RP (1977) Comparison of methylated sequences in messenger RNA and heterogeneous nuclear RNA from mouse L cells. J Mol Biol 115:695–714. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-2836(77)90110-3
Meyer KD, Saletore Y, Zumbo P, Elemento O, Mason CE, Jaffrey SR (2012) Comprehensive analysis of mRNA methylation reveals enrichment in 3′ UTRs and near stop codons. Cell 149:1635–1646. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2012.05.003
Dominissini D, Moshitch-Moshkovitz S, Schwartz S, Salmon-Divon M, Ungar L, Osenberg S, Cesarkas K, Jacob-Hirsch J, Amariglio N, Kupiec M, Sorek R, Rechavi G (2012) Topology of the human and mouse m6A RNA methylomes revealed by m6A-seq. Nature 485:201–206. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11112
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by grants from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, Umeå University, Västerbotten County Council, Swedish Research Council (2017-01636), Kempe Foundation (SMK-1766), and Cancerfonden (19 0337 Pj).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Bhattarai, D.P., Aguilo, F. (2022). m6A RNA Immunoprecipitation Followed by High-Throughput Sequencing to Map N6-Methyladenosine. In: Dassi, E. (eds) Post-Transcriptional Gene Regulation. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2404. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1851-6_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1851-6_19
Published:
Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-1850-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-1851-6
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols