GSE136921
N1-methyladenosine methylome in messenger RNA in petunia
N1-methyladenosine is a unique base methylation because it blocks Watson-Crick base paring and introduces a positive charge. Previous studies showed that m1A is prevalent in yeast and mammals mRNA and has a functional role in promoting translation of methylated mRNA. However, little is known about its abundance, topology and dynamics in plant mRNA. In this study, dot blotting and LC–MS/MS analyses reveal a dynamic pattern of m1A mRNA modification in various tissues and at different developmental stages in petunia (Petunia hybrida). Transcriptome-wide profiling of mRNA m1A in petunia was reported by applying m1A mRNA immunoprecipitation followed by a deep-sequencing approach (m1A-seq). m1A-seq analysis identified 4993 m1A peaks in 3231 expressed genes in petunia corollas. Each methylated gene averagely carries 1.55 peaks. Among the identified m1A peaks, there are 251 m1A peaks in which the adenines was partly replaced by thymine (T) and/or the reverse transcription stops happened in adenine site, in 199 expressed genes. We found that m1A is enriched in coding sequences with one peaks located immediately after start codons, and a slight negative correlation between methylated genes and gene expression was observed. Totally, ethylene treatment reduced the m1A level of mRNA in petunia corollas. We show that a RNA m1A-methyltransferase, tRNA specific methyltransferase 61A (PhTRMT61A), is an m1A mRNA methyltransferase. PhTRMT61A silencing results in decreased m1A peaks in mRNA in leaves and abnormal leaf development. PhTRMT61A is located to the nucleus. Our results suggest that m1A in mRNA is an important epitranscriptome marker and plays a role in plant development. Overall design: m1A modification in plant mRNA