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Writer's block: preventing m 6 A mRNA methylation promotes T cell naivety
Author(s) -
Sprent Jonathan,
Surh Charles D
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
immunology and cell biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.999
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1440-1711
pISSN - 0818-9641
DOI - 10.1038/icb.2017.67
Subject(s) - messenger rna , methylation , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , cd28 , t cell , rna , cellular differentiation , biochemistry , immunology , gene , immune system
N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is a conserved internal modification prevalent in eukaryotic nuclear RNA and determines stem cell fates by influencing mRNA metabolism, especially mRNA stability.1 The m6A modification is imprinted by a ‘writer’ multicomponent N6-adenosine methyltransferase (MT) complex composed of METTL3 and METTL14.2 These two proteins form a stable heterodimer to catalyse M6 mRNA methylation. In their recent paper in Nature, Li et al.3 demonstrate that ablating the MT complex prevents m6A modification and leads to a dramatic alteration of lymphocyte homeostasis where T cells are kept in a naive state.