Epitranscriptional Regulation: From the Perspectives of Cardiovascular Bioengineering

The central dogma of gene expression involves DNA transcription to RNA and RNA translation into protein. As key intermediaries and modifiers, RNAs undergo various forms of modifications such as methylation, pseudouridylation, deamination, and hydroxylation. These modifications, termed epitranscriptional regulations, lead to functional changes in RNAs. Recent studies have demonstrated crucial roles for RNA modifications in gene translation, DNA damage response, and cell fate regulation. Epitranscriptional modifications play an essential role in development, mechanosensing, atherogenesis, and regeneration in the cardiovascular (CV) system, and their elucidation is critically important to understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying CV physiology and pathophysiology. This review aims at providing biomedical engineers with an overview of the epitranscriptome landscape, related key concepts, recent findings in epitranscriptional regulations, and tools for epitranscriptome analysis. The potential applications of this important field in biomedical engineering research are discussed.