The RNA NAD+ cap is widespread in the Arabidopsis transcriptome and probably promotes translation

As the most common mRNA cap, the m7G cap impacts the fate of an mRNA in eukaryotes. The metabolite and redox agent, nicotinamide adenine diphosphate (NAD+), can be used as an initiating nucleotide in RNA synthesis to result in NAD+-capped RNAs. Such RNAs have been identified in bacteria, yeast, and human cells, but it is not known whether they exist in plant transcriptomes. The functions of the NAD+ cap in RNA metabolism or translation are still poorly understood. Here, through NAD captureSeq, we show that NAD+- capped RNAs are widespread in Arabidopsis thaliana. NAD+-capped RNAs are predominantly messenger RNAs encoded by the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes but not the chloroplast genome. NAD-capped transcripts from the nuclear genome appear to be spliced and polyadenylated. Furthermore, although NAD+-capped transcripts constitute a small proportion of the total transcript pool from any gene, they are enriched in the polysomal fraction and associate with translating ribosomes. Our findings implicate the existence of as yet unknown mechanisms of translation initiation on NAD+-capped mRNAs. More importantly, our findings suggest that cellular metabolic and/or redox states may influence, and maybe regulated by, mRNA NAD capping. Overall design: We analyzed the NAD+-capped RNA in Arabidopsis seedling and inflorescence total RNA population, as well as NAD+- capped RNA in seedling polyA mRNA and polysomal RNA fraction. Each sample indcludes at least 2 replicates.