Regulation of translation by site-specific ribosomal RNA methylation [RiboMeth-Seq]

We report that 2’-O-methylation levels at subset of positions in human ribosomal RNA are variable between cell types and conditions, and that the degree of methylation at distinct sites is responsive to key cellular pathways. MYC overexpression results in increased methylation at a particular rRNA site (18S:C174). We find that this methylation is important for modulating translation of distinct mRNAs, leading to phenotypic changes including modulation of cell proliferation rate. Thus, differential rRNA 2’-O-methylation can give rise to ribosomes with specialized function. RiboMeth-seq (RMS) analysis of 11 indicated cell lines or conditions. 3 replicate RMS libraries were produced for each cell line. A distinct bar-coded sequencing adapter was used for each library replicate. Triplicate libraries for each cell line were sequenced on individual Ion Proton chips. A compressed fastq file for each replicate per cell line analysed are available here. Additionally the processed data for each cell line is provided.