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Updated: Nov 14, 2025

Polysome Fractionation and Analysis of Mammalian Translatomes on a Genome-wide Scale
Published on: May 17, 2014
Regulation of translation by methylation multiplicity of 18S rRNA
Kuanqing Liu1, Daniel A Santos2, Jeffrey A Hussmann3
1Department of Biochemistry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
Abstract:
N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is a conserved ribonucleoside modification that regulates many facets of RNA metabolism. Using quantitative mass spectrometry, we find that the universally conserved tandem adenosines at the 3' end of 18S rRNA, thought to be constitutively di-methylated (m62A), are also mono-methylated (m6A). Although present at substoichiometric amounts, m6A at these positions increases significantly in response to sulfur starvation in yeast cells and mammalian cell lines. Combining yeast genetics and ribosome profiling, we provide evidence to suggest that m6A-bearing ribosomes carry out translation distinctly from m62A-bearing ribosomes, featuring a striking specificity for sulfur metabolism genes. Our work thus reveals methylation multiplicity as a mechanism to regulate translation.
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