m⁶A-Modified GATA2 Enhances Odontogenic Differentiation in Stem Cells from the Apical Papilla

Epigenetic modifications play a crucial role in regulating stem cell differentiation. Among these, N6-methyladenosine (m⁶A) modification significantly impacts mRNA stability and translation. However, its role in dental stem cell differentiation remains largely unexplored. Functional assays, including ALP activity, alizarin red S staining, qPCR, and Western blot, were conducted to assess odontogenic differentiation. Then, an in vivo dentin formation model was used to validate our findings. Additionally, we employed RNA stability assays and m⁶A site mutagenesis to investigate the regulatory mechanism of m⁶A modification in GATA2-mediated differentiation. Our results demonstrated that overexpression of GATA2 significantly promoted SCAP odontogenic differentiation. Moreover, in vivo studies confirmed that GATA2 overexpression enhances dentin formation in mouse models. Conversely, knockdown of GATA2 or mutation of its m⁶A sites led to reduced mRNA stability and decreased odontogenic differentiation. m⁶A modification is enriched in the 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) of GATA2 mRNA, regulating its stability and expression. Our findings indicate that m⁶A modification contributes to the post-transcriptional regulation of GATA2, enhancing its stability and promoting SCAP-mediated odontogenic differentiation and dentin formation. This study provides new insights into the epigenetic regulation of dental stem cells and suggests a potential molecular target for dental tissue regeneration.