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PMID: 29555755 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Xio is a component of the Drosophila sex determination pathway and RNA N6-methyladenosine methyltransferase complex.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ·Vol. 115 ·No. 14 ·2018-00-03 ·Pages 3674-3679

Guo J, Tang HW, Li J, Perrimon N, Yan D

Abstract

N6-methyladenosine (m6A), the most abundant chemical modification in eukaryotic mRNA, has been implicated in Drosophila sex determination by modifying Sex-lethal (Sxl) pre-mRNA and facilitating its alternative splicing. Here, we identify a sex determination gene, CG7358, and rename it xio according to its loss-of-function female-to-male transformation phenotype. xio encodes a conserved ubiquitous nuclear protein of unknown function. We show that Xio colocalizes and interacts with all previously known m6A writer complex subunits (METTL3, METTL14, Fl(2)d/WTAP, Vir/KIAA1429, and Nito/Rbm15) and that loss of xio is associated with phenotypes that resemble other m6A factors, such as sexual transformations, Sxl splicing defect, held-out wings, flightless flies, and reduction of m6A levels. Thus, Xio encodes a member of the m6A methyltransferase complex involved in mRNA modification. Since its ortholog ZC3H13 (or KIAA0853) also associates with several m6A writer factors, the function of Xio in the m6A pathway is likely evolutionarily conserved.

Keywords
CG7358 Xio alternative splicing m6A writer complex sex determination
MeSH Terms
Adenosine/analogs & derivatives,metabolism Alternative Splicing Animals Drosophila Proteins/genetics,metabolism Drosophila melanogaster/genetics,growth & development,metabolism Female Male Methyltransferases/genetics,metabolism RNA/genetics,metabolism RNA Precursors/genetics,metabolism RNA-Binding Proteins/genetics,metabolism Sex Determination Processes/genetics
Chemicals
Drosophila Proteins RNA Precursors RNA-Binding Proteins Sxl protein, Drosophila RNA N-methyladenosine Methyltransferases Adenosine
Authors & Affiliations
5 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Guo Jian
Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200032 Shanghai, China. | University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049 Beijing, China.
Tang Hong-Wen
Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115.
Li Jing
Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200032 Shanghai, China. | University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049 Beijing, China.
Perrimon Norbert
Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115; perrimon@receptor.med.harvard.edu yandong@sibs.ac.cn. | Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115.
Yan Dong
Key Laboratory of Insect Developmental and Evolutionary Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 200032 Shanghai, China; perrimon@receptor.med.harvard.edu yandong@sibs.ac.cn.
Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Article Info
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Abbr.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
ISSN
1091-6490
DOI
10.1073/pnas.1720945115
Email
perrimon@receptor.med.harvard.edu
yandong@sibs.ac.cn
Published
2018-00-03
Epub
2018-00-19
Pages
3674-3679
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
7505876
PMCID
PMC5889661
Subset
IM
Grants
Howard Hughes Medical Institute · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1720945115 PMC Full Text View journal details
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