YTHDF1 suppresses innate immune responses by promoting induction of A-to-I RNA editing

In this study, we show that the m6A modification promotes translation of the ADAR1 transcript, which encodes an A-to-I RNA editing enzyme, in response to interferon stimulation. We reveal that this translation upregulation is mediated by the YTHDF1-dependent pathway; YTHDF1 is a reader protein that can preferentially bind m6A-modified transcripts and promote translation. Knockdown of YTHDF1 reduces the overall levels of interferon-induced A-to-I RNA editing, which consequently activates dsRNA-sensing pathway and increased expression of various interferon-stimulated genes. These RNA-seq experiments investigate the effect of YTHDF1 knockdown on the interferon-treated A172 cell transcriptome. mRNA profiles of A172 glioblastoma cells with IFN treatment and YTHDF1 knockdown were generated by deep sequencing, in triplicate.