Sulfur-dependent translational regulation via methylation multiplicity of 18S rRNA
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ABSTRACT: N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is a conserved nucleoside modification that regulates many facets of RNA metabolism and cellular physiology. Using quantitative mass spectrometry, we find that the universally conserved tandem adenosines at the 3’ end of 18S rRNA (A1781 and A1782 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae), which were thought to be constitutively di-methylated (i.e. N6, N6-dimethyladenosine or m62A), are also mono-methylated (i.e. m6A). Although present at substoichiometric amounts, m6A at these positions increases significantly and specifically in response to sulfur starvation in both yeast and mammalian cells. Combining yeast genetics and ribosome-profiling, we further demonstrate that ribosomes bearing different numbers of methyl groups (zero, one, and two) at these tandem adenosines exhibit distinct translation profiles in a sulfur-dependent fashion. Our work thus reveals methylation multiplicity as a mechanism to regulate translation and also uncovers the functional importance of the ubiquitous m62A modification in 18S rRNA.
Project description:Cellular RNAs are covalently modified and these modifications can impact on all biological processes and hence are implicated in different types of diseases. Amongst RNA modifications, N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is one of the most widespread and has been found on messenger (mRNA), ribosomal (rRNA), non-coding and spliceosomal RNAs. We undertook a systematic screen to uncover new RNA-methyltransferases. We demonstrate that the methyltransferase-like 5 protein (METTL5) is an 18S rRNA specific methyltransferase and interacts specifically with Trmt122.
Project description:RNA N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification is present in different RNA molecules, including protein-coding mRNAs and non-coding RNAs such as ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs).Here, we report that mammalian METTL5, a member of a highly conserved methyltransferase family, specifically methylates adenosine 1832 (A1832) in the 18S rRNA in vivo and in vitro.
Project description:XIST is a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) that mediates transcriptional silencing of X chromosome genes. Here we show that XIST is highly methylated with at least 78 N6-methyladenosine (m6A) residues, a reversible base modification whose function in lncRNAs is unknown. We show that m6A formation in XIST, as well as cellular mRNAs, is mediated by RBM15 and its paralog RBM15B, which bind the m6A-methylation complex and recruit it to specific sites in RNA. This results in methylation of adenosines in adjacent m6A consensus motifs. Furthermore, knockdown of RBM15 and RBM15B, or knockdown of the m6A methyltransferase METTL3 impairs XIST-mediated gene silencing. A systematic comparison of m6A-binding proteins shows that YTHDC1 preferentially recognizes m6A in XIST and is required for XIST function. Additionally, artificial tethering of YTHDC1 to XIST rescues XIST-mediated silencing upon loss of m6A. These data reveal a pathway of m6A formation and recognition required for XIST-mediated transcriptional repression. Three to four biological HEK293T replicates were used to perform iCLIP of endogenous YTH proteins, RBM15, and RBM15B. Crosslinking induced truncations were identified using CIMS-CITS pipeline.
Project description:N6-methyladenosine (m6A) has recently been found abundantly on messenger RNA and shown to regulate most steps of mRNA metabolism. Several important m6A methyltransferases have been described functionally and structurally, but the enzymes responsible for installing one m6A residue on each subunit of human ribosomes at functionally important sites have eluded identification for over 30 years. Here we identify METTL5 as the enzyme responsible for 18S rRNA m6A modification and confirm ZCCHC4 as the 28S rRNA modification enzyme. We show that METTL5 must form a heterodimeric complex with TRMT112, a known methyltransferase activator, to gain metabolic stability in cells. We provide the first atomic resolution structure of METTL5-TRMT112, supporting that its RNA binding mode differs distinctly from that of other m6A RNA methyltransferases. On the basis of similarities with a DNA methyltransferase, we propose that METTL5-TRMT112 acts by extruding the adenosine to be modified from a double-stranded nucleic acid.
Project description:N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is a widespread reversible chemical modification of RNAs, implicated in many aspects of RNA metabolism. Little quantitative information exists as to either how many transcript copies of particular genes are m6A modified (âm6A levelsâ), or the relationship of m6A modification(s) to alternative RNA isoforms. To deconvolute the m6A epitranscriptome, we developed m6A level and isoform-characterization sequencing (m6A-LAIC-seq). We found that cells exhibit a broad range of non-stoichiometric m6A levels with cell type specificity. At the level of isoform characterization, we discovered widespread differences in use of tandem alternative polyadenylation (APA) sites by methylated and nonmethylated transcript isoforms of individual genes. Strikingly, there is a strong bias for methylated transcripts to be coupled with proximal APA sites, resulting in shortened 3â untranslated regions (3â-UTRs), while nonmethylated transcript isoforms tend to use distal APA sites. m6A-LAIC-seq yields a new perspective on transcriptome complexity and links APA usage to m6A modifications. m6A-LAIC-seq of H1-ESC and GM12878 cell lines, each cell line has two replicates
Project description:Tumor recurrence is main pattern of treatment failure for early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the molecular mechanisms underlying disease recurrence remain poorly understood. Here, we showed that 18S rRNA N6-methyladenosine (m6A1832) modification and its methyltransferase complex METTL5/TRMT112 were upregulated in HCC and correlated with poor prognosis. Loss-of-function and gain-of-function assays demonstrated that METTL5/TRMT112 mediated 18S rRNA m6A1832 modification promotes HCC tumorigenesis in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, 18S rRNA m6A1832 modification selectively regulated the translation of mRNAs with long 5’UTR and short 3’UTR through affecting the assembly of 80S subunit at translation initiation and its dissociation at translation termination which was executed by weakening the interaction of ABCE1 with eRF1 and eRF3. Moreover, METTL5-mediated 18S rRNA m6A1832 modification regulated β-oxidation of long-chain fatty acid through ACSL4 to promote HCC progression. Our work uncovered a novel layer of mRNA translation regulation mechanism at ribosome 80S subunit assembly and dissociation step mediated by 18S rRNA m6A1832 modification and revealed a new crosslink between RNA epigenetic modification and fatty acid metabolism in HCC.
Project description:RNA methylations are essential both for RNA structure and function, and are introduced by a number of distinct methyltransferases (MTases). In recent years, N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification of eukaryotic mRNA has been subject to intense studies, and it has been demonstrated that m6A is a reversible modification that regulates several aspects of mRNA function. However, m6A is also found in other RNAs, such as mammalian 18S and 28S ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), but the responsible MTases have remained elusive. 28S rRNA carries a single m6A modification, found at position A4220 (alternatively referred to as A4190) within a stem-loop structure, and here we show that the MTase ZCCHC4 is the enzyme responsible for introducing this modification. Accordingly, we found that ZCCHC4 localises to nucleoli, the site of ribosome assembly, and that proteins involved in RNA metabolism are overrepresented in the ZCCHC4 interactome. Interestingly, the absence of m6A4220 perturbs codon-specific translation dynamics and shifts gene expression at the translational level. In summary, we establish ZCCHC4 as the enzyme responsible for m6A modification of human 28S rRNA, and demonstrate its functional significance in mRNA translation.
Project description:Defects in ribosome biogenesis can trigger a battery of cellular events to alter gene expression and cell growth. 18S rRNA methyltransferase EMG1 is an important assembly factor in ribosome biogenesis. Here, we report that downregulation of EMG1 non-enzymatically leads to decreased N6-methyladensine (m6A) levels in polyadenylated RNA. We revealed the identities of the messenger RNAs with decreased m6A intensities upon EMG1 deficiency using m6A-IP-seq. This group of mRNAs significantly overlap with the CLIP targets of IGF2BP3, which is an m6A reader protein stabilizing m6A-containing transcripts. Furthermore, both RNA-seq and qRT-PCR results suggest that the expression level of this group of mRNAs significantly decreased upon EMG1 deficiency, possibly through the regulation of IGF2BP3. Gene ontology analysis suggests that this group of mRNAs function in a list of cell signaling pathways important for cell growth. These findings collectively suggest that decreased ribosome assembly may influence gene expression via decreasing m6A levels in mRNAs.
Project description:N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is one of the most abundant modifications in eukaryotic RNA. Recent mapping of m6A methylomes in mammals, yeast, and plants as well as characterization of m6A methyltransferases, demethylases, and binding proteins have revealed regulatory functions of this dynamic RNA modification. In bacteria, although m6A is present in ribosomal RNA (rRNA), its occurrence in messenger RNA (mRNA) still remains elusive. Here, we used liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) to calculate the m6A/A ratio in mRNA from a wide range of bacterial species, which demonstrates that m6A is an abundant mRNA modification in tested bacteria. Subsequent transcriptome-wide m6A profiling in Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa revealed a conserved distinct m6A pattern that is significantly different from that in eukaryotes. Most m6A peaks are located inside open reading frames (ORF), and carry a unique consensus motif (GCCAU). Functional enrichment analysis of bacterial m6A peaks indicates that the majority of m6A-modified transcripts are associated with respiration, amino acids metabolism, stress response, and small RNAs genes, suggesting potential regulatory roles of m6A in these pathways. m6A profiling in E.coli and P.aeruginosa mRNA