PUBLICATION

Role of epigenetic m6 A RNA methylation in vascular development: mettl3 regulates vascular development through PHLPP2/mTOR-AKT signaling

Authors
Parial, R., Li, H., Li, J., Archacki, S., Yang, Z., Wang, I.Z., Chen, Q., Xu, C., Wang, Q.K.
ID
ZDB-PUB-210401-12
Date
2021
Source
FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology   35: e21465 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Keywords
mettl3, PHLPP2, m6A methylation, mTOR-AKT, vascular development, zebrafish
MeSH Terms
  • Adenosine/analogs & derivatives*
  • Adenosine/chemistry
  • Animals
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/cytology*
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian/metabolism
  • Methylation
  • Methyltransferases/genetics
  • Methyltransferases/metabolism*
  • Neovascularization, Physiologic*
  • Phosphoprotein Phosphatases/genetics
  • Phosphoprotein Phosphatases/metabolism*
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt/genetics
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt/metabolism*
  • TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases/genetics
  • TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases/metabolism*
  • Zebrafish
  • Zebrafish Proteins/genetics
  • Zebrafish Proteins/metabolism
PubMed
33788967 Full text @ FASEB J.
Abstract
N6 -methyladenosine (m6A) methylation is the most prevalent RNA modification, and it emerges as an important regulatory mechanism of gene expression involved in many cellular and biological processes. However, the role of m6 A methylation in vascular development is not clear. The m6 A RNA methylation is regulated by dynamic interplay among methyltransferases, binding proteins, and demethylases. Mettl3 is a member of the mettl3-mettl14 methyltransferase complex, referred to as writers that catalyze m6A RNA methylation. Here, we used CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing to develop two lines of knockout (KO) zebrafish for mettl3. Heterozygous mettl3+/- KO embryos show defective vascular development, which is directly visible in fli-EGFP and flk-EGFP zebrafish. Alkaline phosphatase staining and whole mount in situ hybridization with cdh5, and flk markers demonstrated defective development of intersegmental vessels (ISVs), subintestinal vessels (SIVs), interconnecting vessels (ICVs) and dorsal longitudinal anastomotic vessels (DLAV) in both heterozygous mettl3+/- and homozygous mettl3-/- KO zebrafish embryos. Similar phenotypes were observed in zebrafish embryos with morpholino knockdown (KD) of mettl3; however, the vascular defects were rescued fully by overexpression of constitutively active AKT1. KD of METTL3 in human endothelial cells inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and capillary tube formation. Mechanistically, mettl3 KO and KD significantly reduced the levels of m6 A RNA methylation, and AKT phosphorylation (S473) by an increase in the expression of phosphatase enzyme PHLPP2 and reduction in the phosphorylation of mTOR (S2481), a member of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-related kinase family of protein kinases. These data suggest that m6 A RNA methylation regulates vascular development via PHLPP2/mTOR-AKT signaling.
Genes / Markers
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Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
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