Melatonin Mitigates Cd-Induced Growth Repression and RNA m<sup>6</sup>A Hypermethylation by Triggering MMR-Mediated DNA Damage Response

Melatonin Mitigates Cd-Induced Growth Repression and RNA m<sup>6</sup>A Hypermethylation by Triggering MMR-Mediated DNA Damage Response

Melatonin (MT) has been found to mitigate cadmium (Cd) toxicity with negligible environmental risks. It remains poorly understood as to how MT mitigates Cd-induced growth repression and regulates RNA m<sup>6</sup>A methylation. We aimed to elucidate the effect of MT on growth repression...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zihan Tang, Hetong Wang, Xianpeng Wang, Richard A. Ludlow, Zhouli Liu, Min Zhang, Qijiang Cao, Wan Liu, Qiang Zhao
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-05-01
Series:Plants
Subjects:
Cd toxicology
RNA m<sup>6</sup>A methylation
DNA repair
cell cycle
Arabidopsis
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/14/9/1398
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Summary:Melatonin (MT) has been found to mitigate cadmium (Cd) toxicity with negligible environmental risks. It remains poorly understood as to how MT mitigates Cd-induced growth repression and regulates RNA m<sup>6</sup>A methylation. We aimed to elucidate the effect of MT on growth repression and RNA m<sup>6</sup>A methylation in Arabidopsis (<i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i>) exposed to Cd stress. MT mitigated, on average, 13.96% and 8.42% of growth repression resulting from Cd and mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency. The ameliorative effect on Cd stress was reduced by 70.56% and 34.23% in <i>msh2</i> and <i>msh6</i> mutants, respectively. With distinct dose–effect relationships, m<sup>6</sup>A hypermethylation responded to Cd stress rather than Cu stress, which was further elevated in MMR-deficient seedlings. MT reduced m<sup>6</sup>A levels by 22.98% even without stress induction, whereas the depressed m<sup>6</sup>A levels in MMR-deficient seedlings, greatly exceeding those in the WT. The “writer” and “eraser” gene expression responsible for m<sup>6</sup>A methylation was reduced with the concentration of stresses due to MT, but <i>VIR</i> and <i>ALKBH9B</i> no longer responded to Cd stress in <i>msh2</i> and <i>msh6</i>. Despite the remarkable repression, MMR gene expression was regularly promoted by MT under Cd and Cu stress. Our study provides novel insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the restorative effects of MT on growth repression and m<sup>6</sup>A methylation regulation, which shed light on Cd phytoremediation.
ISSN:2223-7747

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