TY - JOUR
T1 - Epitranscriptomics
T2 - An Additional Regulatory Layer in Plants’ Development and Stress Response
AU - Shoaib, Yasira
AU - Usman, Babar
AU - Kang, Hunseung
AU - Jung, Ki Hong
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2022/4/1
Y1 - 2022/4/1
N2 - Epitranscriptomics has added a new layer of regulatory machinery to eukaryotes, and the advancement of sequencing technology has revealed more than 170 post-transcriptional modifications in various types of RNAs, including messenger RNA (mRNA), transfer RNA (tRNA), ribosomal RNA (rRNA), and long non-coding RNA (lncRNA). Among these, N6-methyladenosine (m6 A) and N5-methylcytidine (m5 C) are the most prevalent internal mRNA modifications. These regulate various aspects of RNA metabolism, mainly mRNA degradation and translation. Recent advances have shown that regulation of RNA fate mediated by these epitranscriptomic marks has pervasive effects on a plant’s development and responses to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Recently, it was demonstrated that the removal of human-FTO-mediated m6 A from transcripts in transgenic rice and potatoes caused a dramatic increase in their yield, and that the m6 A reader protein mediates stress responses in wheat and apple, indicating that regulation of m6 A levels could be an efficient strategy for crop improvement. However, changing the overall m6 A levels might have unpredictable effects; therefore, the identification of precise m6 A levels at a single-base resolution is essential. In this review, we emphasize the roles of epitranscriptomic modifications in modulating molecular, physiological, and stress responses in plants, and provide an outlook on epitranscriptome engineering as a promising tool to ensure food security by editing specific m6 A and m5 C sites through robust genome-editing technology.
AB - Epitranscriptomics has added a new layer of regulatory machinery to eukaryotes, and the advancement of sequencing technology has revealed more than 170 post-transcriptional modifications in various types of RNAs, including messenger RNA (mRNA), transfer RNA (tRNA), ribosomal RNA (rRNA), and long non-coding RNA (lncRNA). Among these, N6-methyladenosine (m6 A) and N5-methylcytidine (m5 C) are the most prevalent internal mRNA modifications. These regulate various aspects of RNA metabolism, mainly mRNA degradation and translation. Recent advances have shown that regulation of RNA fate mediated by these epitranscriptomic marks has pervasive effects on a plant’s development and responses to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Recently, it was demonstrated that the removal of human-FTO-mediated m6 A from transcripts in transgenic rice and potatoes caused a dramatic increase in their yield, and that the m6 A reader protein mediates stress responses in wheat and apple, indicating that regulation of m6 A levels could be an efficient strategy for crop improvement. However, changing the overall m6 A levels might have unpredictable effects; therefore, the identification of precise m6 A levels at a single-base resolution is essential. In this review, we emphasize the roles of epitranscriptomic modifications in modulating molecular, physiological, and stress responses in plants, and provide an outlook on epitranscriptome engineering as a promising tool to ensure food security by editing specific m6 A and m5 C sites through robust genome-editing technology.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85128132883&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/plants11081033
DO - 10.3390/plants11081033
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85128132883
SN - 2223-7747
VL - 11
JO - Plants
JF - Plants
IS - 8
M1 - 1033
ER -
