m6A Editing: New Tool to Improve Crop Quality?

Climate change and population growth require a significant increase in food crops, and improved crop quality in the future is bound to combine multiple strategies. m6A modification is a widespread post-transcriptional regulatory mechanism in plants that has great potential for improving crop quality. Using genetic interference to study the function of m6A resulted in changes in the overall level of m6A modification in plants and produced unpredictable effects. The RNA-guided RNA editor CRISPR-Cas13 system combined with m6A enzymes that add or remove m6A at specific sites could become a useful tool for studying the functions of m6A modifications and improving crop quality by m6A editing. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most common type of eukaryotic mRNA modification. It plays an important role in regulating plant growth and development and stress resistance. m6A modification influences nearly all aspects of RNA metabolism and functionality and has great potential for improving crop quality. However, changing m6A modification levels as a whole may have unpredictable effects, making it impossible to accurately predict the effect of specific m6A modifications on RNA. In this opinion article, the main challenges and possible solutions for exploring m6A modification functions in plant systems are discussed. An m6A editing platform that uses new high-throughput methods to identify m6A modification at single-base resolution, and genome editing for selective editing of specific m6A sites for crop improvement is proposed. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most common type of eukaryotic mRNA modification. It plays an important role in regulating plant growth and development and stress resistance. m6A modification influences nearly all aspects of RNA metabolism and functionality and has great potential for improving crop quality. However, changing m6A modification levels as a whole may have unpredictable effects, making it impossible to accurately predict the effect of specific m6A modifications on RNA. In this opinion article, the main challenges and possible solutions for exploring m6A modification functions in plant systems are discussed. An m6A editing platform that uses new high-throughput methods to identify m6A modification at single-base resolution, and genome editing for selective editing of specific m6A sites for crop improvement is proposed. an RNA-guided nucleic acid endoenzyme that can be targeted to specific DNA sequences by nucleotide base matching to achieve modification on DNA. an RNA-guided RNA endoenzyme that can target specific RNA sequences with base pairing for RNA modification. Cas13 has great potential for editing RNA, or editing modifications on RNA. a Cas9 protein that loses catalytic activity can be positioned at the PAM site under the guidance of guide RNA, but cannot cut double-stranded DNA. an enzyme-mediated sequencing method for identifying m6A modifications on mRNA in transcriptomics. DART-seq requires much small initial amounts of RNA than m6A-seq. a technique that introduces mutations into the target sequence in the form of insertion, deletion, or base substitution, resulting in DNA changes. a commonly used method for identifying m6A modifications on mRNA in transcriptomics. m6A-seq relies on the highly specific m6A antibody to precipitate m6A and then high-throughput sequencing is performed to reveal methylated transcripts. methylation of the nitrogen base at the 6th position in adenosine. m6A is the most common modification on mRNA and is highly dynamic within cells. writers, erasers, and readers are the core components of the m6A regulatory system. Writers add m6A to the conserved sequence ‘RRACH'. Readers identify m6A sites and play specific regulatory roles. Erasers remove m6A modifications on RNA transcripts. Writers, erasers, and readers form the basis of a complex regulatory network that involves m6A modification of mRNA.