On April 10th, 2023, Professor Xu Tao from Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Phylogenomics and Comparative Genomics at School of Life Sciences and Jiangsu Joint International Center of Genomics, along with Professor Hunseung Kang from Chonnam National University, a double employed professor of Jiangsu Normal University (JSNU), published a paper N6-methyladenosine RNA methylation modulates liquid‒liquid phase separation in plants in the top-tier botanical journal The Plant Cell, which is a nature index journal with the impact factor of 12.08. It’s the first time that our university publishes a paper as the first author in this journal. The achievement builds upon the team’s previous research results in the features of m6A methylomes during expansion of fruits (Plant Physiology, 2022), floral transition in Arabidopsis (Journal of Experimental Botany, 2023), and salt stress tolerance in Arabidopsis (Plant Journal, 2021), representing another important breakthrough in plant RNA epigenetics.
N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most abundant RNA modification part in eukaryotic mRNA. Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) facilitates the formation of membraneless biomolecular condensates, which are crucial for many cellular processes in plants, including embryogenesis, the floral transition, photosynthesis, pathogen defense, and stress responses. In this review, the paper provides an overview of recent developments in the role of mRNA methylation in LLPS in plant cells. It also emphasizes major challenges in elucidating the effects of m6A modification on LLPS and highlights new directions for future research in plant RNA epigenetics.
The work has received strong support from the Biology Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD) and Jiangsu Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program etc.
Figure 1. Key components responsible for of m6A modification and liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) in plants.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koad103
Introduction to The Plant Cell
The Plant Cell is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of plant sciences, especially the areas of cell and molecular biology, genetics, development, and evolution. It is a publication of the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB), publishing about 200 articles annually. The journal is a Nature Index journal and is internationally recognized as a leading international academic journal in the field of plant science, with a good academic reputation.