AUTHOR=Ni Shuangfei , Luo Zixiang , Fan Yonggang , Zhang Weixin , Peng Wei , Zhang Huafeng 

TITLE=Alteration of m6A epitranscriptomic tagging of ribonucleic acids after spinal cord injury in mice

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience

VOLUME=16

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2022.904573

DOI=10.3389/fnins.2022.904573

ISSN=1662-453X

ABSTRACT=<p>The m<sup>6</sup>A methylation is reported to function in multiple physiological and pathological processes. However, the functional relevance of m<sup>6</sup>A modification to post-spinal cord injured (SCI) damage is not yet clear. In the present study, methylated RNA immunoprecipitation combined with microarray analysis showed that the global RNA m<sup>6</sup>A levels were decreased following SCI. Then, gene ontology (GO) and kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) analyses were conducted to demonstrate the potential function of differential m<sup>6</sup>A-tagged transcripts and the altered transcripts with differential m<sup>6</sup>A levels. In addition, we found that the m<sup>6</sup>A “writer,” METTL3, significantly decreased after SCI in mice. The immunostaining validated that the expression of METTL3 mainly changed in GFAP or Iba-1<sup>+</sup> cells. Together, this study shows the alteration of m<sup>6</sup>A modification following SCI in mice, which might contribute to the pathophysiology of the spinal cord after trauma.</p>