N6-methyladenosine RNA Modification Machinery: A Comparative Analysis Across Environmental Stress-Mediated and Developmental Barley Leaf Senescence Types

N6-methyladenosine RNA Modification Machinery: A Comparative Analysis Across Environmental Stress-Mediated and Developmental Barley Leaf Senescence Types | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article N 6 -methyladenosine RNA Modification Machinery: A Comparative Analysis Across Environmental Stress-Mediated and Developmental Barley Leaf Senescence Types Elżbieta Rudy, Umesh Kumar Tanwar, Ewa Sobieszczuk-Nowicki This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8021692/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Senescence is a process that promotes phenotypic plasticity, enabling plants to adapt to changing environments. Developmental leaf senescence (DLS) represents an irreversible process, whereas dark-induced leaf senescence (DILS) is a reversible process. Our research aims to explain how epitranscriptomic machinery governs the irreversibility of senescence. N⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A) is the most prevalent internal modification of messenger RNA. Its role in induced senescence adds a novel regulatory layer to the control of gene expression during this process. Here, we present the first genome-wide characterisation of m⁶A machinery regulatory genes — writers, readers, and erasers — in barley, and investigate their role in barley development and environmental stress response, using different leaf senescence types as a case study. We identified 31 m⁶A machinery-related genes and analyzed their phylogeny, domain organization, chromosomal distribution, and expression profiles across organs, developmental stages, and abiotic stresses. Transcriptomic profiling by RNA sequencing revealed distinct transcriptional responses of key regulators during DLS and DILS. In DILS, most writers and several readers were strongly upregulated, while erasers exhibited divergent expression patterns. Gene expression during DLS remained more stable, indicating limited m⁶A involvement. Quantification of global m⁶A RNA methylation confirmed increased methylation levels during DILS. Transcripts related to chloroplast function and stress response exhibited coordinated changes in mRNA methylation and expression. Together, these findings highlight a regulatory role of m⁶A RNA modification in premature leaf senescence and establish a framework for further exploration of RNA modifications in cereal crop improvement. Barley epitranscriptomics genome-wide identification leaf senescence N6-methyladenosine messenger RNA modification Full Text Supplementary Files SupplemementaryTables1510.xlsx SupplementaryMaterial1510.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. 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