M(6)A RNA methylation promotes XIST-mediated transcriptional repression.

ABSTRACT: The long non-coding RNA X-inactive specific transcript (XIST) mediates the transcriptional silencing of genes on the X chromosome. Here we show that, in human cells, XIST is highly methylated with at least 78 N⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A) residues-a reversible base modification of unknown function in long non-coding RNAs. We show that m⁶A formation in XIST, as well as in cellular mRNAs, is mediated by RNA-binding motif protein 15 (RBM15) and its paralogue RBM15B, which bind the m⁶A-methylation complex and recruit it to specific sites in RNA. This results in the methylation of adenosine nucleotides in adjacent m⁶A consensus motifs. Furthermore, we show that knockdown of RBM15 and RBM15B, or knockdown of methyltransferase like 3 (METTL3), an

SUBMITTER: Patil DP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5509218 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature