Perspectives on topology of the human m¹A methylome at single nucleotide resolution

Abstract

N¹-methyladenosine was recently reported to be a chemical modification in mRNA. However, while we identified hundreds of m¹A sites in the human transcriptome (Li et al., 2017), Safra et al. detected only 9 sites in the cytosolic and mitochondrial mRNAs (Safra et al., 2017). Herein, we provide additional evidences that hundreds of m¹A sites are present in the human transcriptome. Moreover, we show that both the improper bioinformatic tools and the poor quality of sequencing data in the Safra et al. study lead to the failure in identifying the majority of the m¹A sites. Our analysis hence provides an explanation to the divergence in the prevalence of this newly discovered mRNA mark.