RNA modifications are present in most cellular RNAs and are formed posttranscriptionally by enzymatic machineries that involve hundreds of enzymes and cofactors. RNA modifications impact the life cycle of the RNA, its stability, folding, cellular localization, as well as interactions with RNA and protein partners. RNA modifications are important for mitochondrial function and are required for proper processing and function of mitochondrial (mt) tRNA and rRNA. Underscoring their importance, several mitochondrial diseases are caused by defects in mt-RNA modifications, stemming from mutations in mtDNA at or near mt-RNA modification sites or in nuclear-encoded mt-RNA modifying enzymes. A highly abundant RNA modification, involved in mitochondrial physiology and pathology is pseudouridylation (Ψ), which is catalyzed by enzymes of the Pseudouridine Synthase (PUS) family. Although some Ψ sites in mt-rRNA and mt-tRNA have been identified, little is known about the functional role of these modifications. Furthermore, it is unknown which enzyme facilitates the modification of each site and it is likely that many yet undiscovered mt-RNA modifications exist, as is evidenced by recent work showing some Ψ sites on mRNA. Here, we present mito-Ψ-Seq, a high-throughput method for semiquantitative mapping of Ψ in mt-RNA.
Keywords: Epitranscriptome; Misincorporation signatures; Mitochondria; Next-generation sequencing; Pseudouridine; RNA modification; Reverse-transcription arrest.