N 6 -methyladenosine of chromosome-associated regulatory RNA regulates chromatin state and transcription

A new layer of transcriptional control N 6 -methyladenosine (m 6 A) is the most abundant messenger RNA modification in almost all eukaryotes. Liu et al. now show that m 6 A is also cotranscriptionally added onto various chromosome-associated regulatory RNAs (carRNAs) in mammalian cells. Disruption of m 6 A modification of these RNAs increases their abundance and promotes gene transcription by increasing the chromatin accessibility. Thus, m 6 A serves as a switch to regulate carRNA levels by tuning nearby chromatin state and downstream transcription. Science , this issue p. 580