Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 16, 2025

Exploring m6A and m5C Epitranscriptomes upon Viral Infection: an Example with HIV
Published on: March 5, 2022
Identification of SARS-CoV-2 m6A modification sites correlate with viral pathogenicity
Ke Liu1, Ying-Zi Zhang1, Hui Yin2
1Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, China; Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Central South University, Hunan Key Laboratory of Pharmacogenetics, China; Engineering Research Center of Applied Technology of Pharmacogenomics, Ministry of Education, China; National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders, China.
Abstract:
It has recently been found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) m6A modifications can affect viral replication and function. However, no studies to date have shown a correlation between SARS-CoV-2 m6A modifications and viral pathogenicity. In this study, we analyzed m6A modification in 2,190,667 SARS-CoV-2 genomic RNAs. m6A modifications of SARS-CoV-2 from different lineages, causing mild or severe COVID-19 and showing breakthrough for different vaccines were analyzed to explore correlations with viral pathogenicity. The results suggested that the presence of more m6A modifications in the SARS-CoV-2 N region (positive strand) correlates with weaker pathogenicity. In addition, we identified three m6A modification sites correlating with weak pathogenicity (924 in ORF1ab, 15,659 in ORF1ab, 28,288 in N, 28,633 in N and 29,385 in N, 29,707 in 3'UTR) and one with strong pathogenicity (74 in 5'UTR). These results provide new information for understanding the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and controlling the virus.
Related Concept Videos
Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms-SNPs
Viral Mutations
Leaky Scanning

