The N6-Methyladenosine RNA modification in pluripotency and reprogramming

Abstract

Chemical modifications of RNA provide a direct and rapid way to manipulate the existing transcriptome, allowing rapid responses to the changing environment further enriching the regulatory capacity of RNA. N⁶-Methyladenosine (m⁶A) has been identified as the most abundant internal modification of messenger RNA in eukaryotes, linking external stimuli to an intricate network of transcriptional, post-transcriptional and translational processes. M⁶A modification affects a broad spectrum of cellular functions, including maintenance of the pluripotency of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and the reprogramming of somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). In this review, we summarize the most recent findings on m⁶A modification with special focus on the different studies describing how m⁶A is implicated in ESC self-renewal, cell fate specification and iPSC generation.