Comprehensive analysis of mRNA N6-methyladenosine modification in Eimeria tenella unsporulated oocysts and sporulated oocysts

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification, one of the most abundant RNA modification forms, is associated with almost all the aspects of RNA metabolism. In the present study, we surveyed the transcriptome-wide prevalence of m6A in sporulated oocysts and unsporulated oocysts of E. tenella. Methylated RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeRIP-seq) analysis showed that m6A modifications were most abundant in the coding sequence, followed by stop codon. There were 3903 hypermethylated and 3178 hypomethylated mRNAs in sporulated oocysts compared with unsporulated oocysts. Further joint analysis suggested that m6A modifications of the majority of genes were positively correlated with mRNA expression. The mRNA relative expression and m6A level of the selected genes were confirmed by quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) and MeRIP-qPCR. GO and KEGG analysis indicated that differentially m6A methylated genes with significant differences in expression were closely related to processes such as regulation of gene expression, epigenetic, microtubule, autophagy-other and TOR signaling. Moreover, a total of 96 differentially expressed m6A genes without significant differences in expression showed significant differences at protein level. GO and pathway enrichment analysis of the 96 genes showed that RNA methylation may be involved in cell biosynthesis and metabolism of E. tenella. MeRIP-seq and RNA-seq of sporulated oocysts and unsporulated oocysts of E. tenella.