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Updated: Dec 25, 2025

A Method for Measuring RNA N6-methyladenosine Modifications in Cells and Tissues
Published on: December 5, 2016
The origin of genomic N6-methyl-deoxyadenosine in mammalian cells
Michael U Musheev1, Anne Baumgärtner2, Laura Krebs2
1Institute of Molecular Biology gGmbH, Mainz, Germany. M.Musheev@IMB-mainz.de.
Abstract:
The proposal that N6-methyl-deoxyadenosine (m6dA) acts as an epigenetic mark in mammals remains controversial. Using isotopic labeling coupled to ultrasensitive mass spectrometry, we confirm the presence of low-level m6dA in mammalian DNA. However, the bulk of genomic m6dA originates from ribo-N6-methyladenosine, which is processed via the nucleotide-salvage pathway and misincorporated by DNA polymerases. Our results argue against m6dA acting as a heritable, epigenetic DNA mark in mammalian cells.
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