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Updated: Feb 4, 2026

A Method for Measuring RNA N6-methyladenosine Modifications in Cells and Tissues
Published on: December 5, 2016
N6 -Methyladenosine-Sensitive RNA-Cleaving Deoxyribozymes
Maksim V Sednev1, Volodymyr Mykhailiuk2,3, Priyanka Choudhury2,4
1Universität Würzburg, Institut für Organische Chemie, Am Hubland, 97074, Würzburg, Germany.
Abstract:
Deoxyribozymes are synthetic enzymes made of DNA that can catalyze the cleavage or formation of phosphodiester bonds and are useful tools for RNA biochemistry. Herein, we report new RNA-cleaving deoxyribozymes to interrogate the methylation status of target RNAs, thereby providing an alternative method for the biochemical validation of RNA methylation sites containing N6 -methyladenosine, which is the most wide-spread and extensively investigated natural RNA modification. The developed deoxyribozymes are sensitive to the presence of N6 -methyladenosine in RNA near the cleavage site. One class of these DNA enzymes shows faster cleavage of methylated RNA, while others are strongly inhibited by the modified nucleotide. The general applicability of the new deoxyribozymes is demonstrated for several examples of natural RNA sequences, including a lncRNA and a set of C/D box snoRNAs, which have been suggested to contain m6 A as a regulatory element that influences RNA folding and protein binding.
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