Cited by 695RNA modifications and cancerEpigenetics and DNA MethylationCancer-related gene regulation

Histone H3 trimethylation at lysine 36 guides m6A RNA modification co-transcriptionally

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Huang, Huilin, Weng, Hengyou, Zhou, Keren, Wu, Tong, Zhao, Boxuan Simen, Sun, Mingli, Chen, Zhenhua, Deng, Xiaolan +34 more·2019·Nature

Abstract

DNA and histone modifications have notable effects on gene expression 1. Being the most prevalent internal modification in mRNA, the N 6-methyladenosine (m 6 A) mRNA modification is as an important post-transcriptional mechanism of gene regulation 2-4 and has crucial roles in various normal and pathological processes 5-12. However, it is unclear how m 6 A is specifically and dynamically deposited in the transcriptome. Here we report that histone H3 trimethylation at Lys36 (H3K36me3), a marker for transcription elongation, guides m 6 A deposition globally. We show that m 6 A modifications are enriched in the vicinity of H3K36me3 peaks, and are reduced globally when cellular H3K36me3 is depleted. Mechanistically, H3K36me3 is recognized and bound directly by METTL14, a crucial component of the m 6 A methyltransferase complex (MTC), which in turn facilitates the binding of the m 6 A MTC to adjacent RNA polymerase II, thereby delivering the m 6 A MTC to actively transcribed nascent RNAs to deposit m 6 A co-transcriptionally. In mouse embryonic stem cells, phenocopying METTL14 knockdown, H3K36me3 depletion also markedly reduces m 6 A abundance transcriptome-wide and in pluripotency transcripts, resulting in increased cell stemness. Collectively, our studies reveal the important roles of H3K36me3 and METTL14 in determining specific and dynamic deposition of m 6 A in mRNA, and uncover another layer of gene expression regulation that involves crosstalk between histone modification and RNA methylation.

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  • Several reports identified specific crosstalk between m6A RNA modifications and histone modifications, including H3K36me3, H3K9me2, H3K9me3, and K3K27Ac.

    “Indeed, several reports identified specific crosstalk between m6A RNA modifications and histone modifications, including H3K36me3 (Huang et al., 2019), H3K9me2 (Li et al., 2020a), H3K9me3 (Liu et al., 2021a; 2021b), and K3K27Ac (Huang et al., 2025).”

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  1. [7]Geula S m6A mRNA methylation facilitates resolution of naive pluripotency toward differentiation. Science 347, 1002– 1006 (2015) 25569111

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Authors
Huang, H., Weng, H., Zhou, K., Wu, T., Zhao, B. S., Sun, M., Chen, Z., Deng, X., Xiao, G., Auer, F., Klemm, L., Wu, H., Zuo, Z., Qin, X., Dong, Y., Zhou, Y., Qin, H., Tao, S., Du, J., Liu, J., Lu, Z., Yin, H., Mesquita, A., Yuan, C. L., Hu, Y.-C., Sun, W., Su, R., Dong, L., Shen, C., Li, C., Qing, Y., Jiang, X., Wu, X., Sun, M., Guan, J.-L., Qu, L., Wei, M., Müschen, M., Huang, G., He, C., Yang, J., & Chen, J.
Affiliations
  • City of Hope (US)
  • Sun Yat-sen University (CN)
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
  • Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (US)
  • Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center (CN)
  • University of Cincinnati (US)
  • China Medical University (CN)
  • City Of Hope National Medical Center (US)
Corresponding author
  • Huang, Gang
  • He, Chuan
  • Yang, Jianhua
  • Chen, Jianjun
Venue
Nature
Published
2019-03
Volume
567
Issue
7748
Pages
414-419
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
OpenAlex
W2921763102
Cited by
677
References
33
Citations by year
2026: 48 · 2025: 93 · 2024: 99 · 2023: 114 · 2022: 103 · 2021: 114 · 2020: 76 · 2019: 30
FWCI
27.62
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • National Human Genome Research Institute (RM1HG008935)
  • National Cancer Institute (R01CA214965, R21CA187276, R01CA243386, R01CA163493, R01CA236399, R01CA178454, R01CA213138, R01CA182528, R01CA172558, U10CA180827, R01CA139032, R01CA137060, R01CA157644, R35CA197628, P30CA033572, R01CA211066, R01CA211614)
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R56DK120282)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA modifications and cancer
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Epigenetics and DNA Methylation
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Cancer-related gene regulation
Keywords
H3K36me3, N6-methyladenosine, m6A RNA methylation, METTL14, m6A methyltransferase complex, RNA polymerase II, nascent RNA, pluripotency, mouse embryonic stem cells, gene expression regulation
MeSH terms
Adenosine, Animals, Cell Differentiation, Cell Line, Histones, Humans, Lysine, Methylation, Methyltransferases, RNA Polymerase II, RNA, Messenger, Transcription, Genetic, Mice, Embryonic Stem Cells, Transcriptome, Transcription Elongation, Genetic

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