Ubiquitination and deubiquitination in the regulation of N6-methyladenosine functional molecules

Abstract

N⁶ methyladenosine (m⁶A) is the most prevalent RNA epigenetic modification, regulated by methyltransferases and demethyltransferases and recognized by methylation-related reading proteins to impact mRNA splicing, translocation, stability, and translation efficiency. It significantly affects a variety of activities, including stem cell maintenance and differentiation, tumor formation, immune regulation, and metabolic disorders. Ubiquitination refers to the specific modification of target proteins by ubiquitin molecule in response to a series of enzymes. E3 ligases connect ubiquitin to target proteins and usually lead to protein degradation. On the contrary, deubiquitination induced by deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) can separate ubiquitin and regulate the stability of protein. Recent studies have emphasized the potential importance of ubiquitination and deubiquitination in controlling the function of m⁶A modification. In this review, we discuss the impact of ubiquitination and deubiquitination on m⁶A functional molecules in diseases, such as metabolism, cellular stress, and tumor growth.

Keywords: Degradation; Deubiquitination; RNA modification; Ubiquitination; m6A.