Like protein and DNA, different types of RNA molecules undergo various modifications. Accumulating evidence suggests that these RNA modifications serve as sophisticated codes to mediate RNA behaviors and many important biological functions. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most abundant internal RNA modification found in a variety of eukaryotic RNAs, including but not limited to mRNAs, tRNAs, rRNAs, and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). In mammalian cells, m6A can be incorporated by a methyltransferase complex and removed by demethylases, which ensures that the m6A modification is reversible and dynamic. Moreover, m6A is recognized by the YT521-B homology (YTH) domain-containing proteins, which subsequently direct different complexes to regulate RNA signaling pathways, such as RNA metabolism, RNA splicing, RNA folding, and protein translation. Herein, we summarize the recent progresses made in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the m6A recognition by YTH domain-containing proteins, which would shed new light on m6A-specific recognition and provide clues to the future identification of reader proteins of many other RNA modifications.
像蛋白和DNA一样，不同的RNA分子也会进行不同的修饰。大量证据表明这些RNA修饰是一种复杂代码，用来调控RNA的行为和很多重要的生物学功能。m6A是真核生物RNA中存在的一种最为丰富的内部RNA修饰，m6A修饰在信使RNA，转运RNA，核糖体RNA和长链非编码 RNA等RNA中广泛存在。在哺乳动物细胞中，m6A可通过甲基转移酶复合体形成并被去甲基化酶去除，从而保证了这种修饰是动态可逆的。此外，m6A可被含有YT521-B同源（YTH）结构域的蛋白识别，进而指导不同的复合物调节RNA信号传导途径，如：RNA代谢，RNA剪接，RNA折叠和蛋白质翻译。因此，我们总结了近期在研究含有YTH结构域蛋白识别m6A的分子机制方面的进展，这将会为研究m6A特异性识别带来新的亮点，并为将来确定识别其他RNA修饰的蛋白提供了线索。





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