Natural Variation in RNA m 6 A Methylation and Its Relationship with Translational Status

• Published in: Plant physiology (Bethesda) Vol. 182; no. 1; pp. 332 - 344
• Main Authors: Luo, Jin-Hong, Wang, Ye, Wang, Min, Zhang, Li-Yuan, Peng, Hui-Ru, Zhou, Yu-Yi, Jia, Gui-Fang, He, Yan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.01.2020
• Subjects: Alternative Splicing - genetics; Alternative Splicing - physiology; Gene Expression Profiling; RNA, Messenger - genetics; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; Transcriptome - genetics; Zea mays - genetics
• ISSN: 0032-0889; 1532-2548
• DOI: 10.1104/pp.19.00987

N -methyladenosine (m A) is the most abundant modification of eukaryotic mRNA. Although m A has been demonstrated to affect almost all aspects of RNA metabolism, its global contribution to the post-transcriptional balancing of translational efficiency remains elusive in plants. In this study, we performed a parallel analysis of the transcriptome-wide mRNA m A distribution and polysome profiling in two maize ( ) inbred lines to assess the global correlation of m A modification with translational status. m A sites are widely distributed in thousands of protein-coding genes, confined to a consensus motif and primarily enriched in the 3' untranslated regions, and highly coordinated with alternative polyadenylation usage, suggesting a role of m A modification in regulating alternative polyadenylation site choice. More importantly, we identified that the m A modification shows multifaceted correlations with the translational status depending on its strength and genic location. Moreover, we observed a substantial intraspecies variation in m A modification, and this natural variation was shown to be partly driven by gene-specific expression and alternative splicing. Together, these findings provide an invaluable resource for ascertaining transcripts that are subject to m A modification in maize and pave the way to a better understanding of natural m A variation in mediating gene expression regulation.