Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39824217›Full record

ArticleMolecular biology and evolution2025

Most m5C Modifications in Mammalian mRNAs are Nonadaptive.

Zheng Li, Kai Mi, Chuan Xu

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Molecular biology and evolution, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Zheng LiKey Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Ministry of Education, Bio-X Institutes, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.ORCID 0009-0004-2206-1071
Kai MiKey Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Ministry of Education, Bio-X Institutes, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.ORCID 0000-0002-6190-2599
Chuan XuKey Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Ministry of Education, Bio-X Institutes, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.ORCID 0000-0002-5897-9181

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China 32270704
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

5-Methylation (m5C) on mRNA molecules is a prevalent internal posttranscriptional modification in eukaryotes. Although m5C modification has been reported to regulate some biological processes, whether most mRNA m5C modifications are functional is unknown. To address this question, we analyzed the genome-wide evolutionary characteristics of m5C modifications in protein-coding genes of humans and mice. Our analysis of RNA sequencing data from 13 tissues of both species revealed that (i) the occurrence of m5C modification is exceedingly low, (ii) the fraction of m5Cs decreases with the amount of Cs across genes or tissues, (iii) m5C modifications are mostly unshared between species, and (iv) m5C sites and motifs do not exhibit greater evolutionary conservation. Additionally, we estimate that a large fraction of the observed mRNA m5C modifications may be deleterious. Together, these observations suggest that most m5C modifications in mammalian mRNAs are nonadaptive, which has important implications for understanding the biological significance of m5C and other posttranscriptional modifications.

Indexed as

RNA, MessengerRNA Processing, Post-TranscriptionalAnimalsEvolution, MolecularHumansMethylationMiceRNA, Messengerevolutionm5C methylationmammalsnatural selectionnonadaptive

Identifiers

PMID39824217
PMCPMC11756383

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.