METTL14

METTL14 is a component of the N6-methyladenosine (m6A) mRNA methyltransferase complex in Toxoplasma gondii, a complex that deposits m6A marks preferentially near the 3'-boundary of mRNA transcripts (PMID:34324585). Beyond its identification as a complex component (PMID:34324585), no METTL14-specific mechanistic detail has been characterized in the available corpus.

1. 2021 Medium

   Whether an m6A methyltransferase machinery exists in Toxoplasma gondii and what its members are was unknown; identifying METTL14 as a component and mapping m6A transcriptome-wide established a parasite m6A writer complex that marks transcripts preferentially near their 3'-ends.

   Evidence Identification of m6A methyltransferase complex components combined with transcriptome-wide m6A mapping in Toxoplasma gondii

   PMID:34324585

   Open questions at the time

   • No functional knockdown or knockout of METTL14 itself was reported; loss-of-function was shown only for other complex members (METTL3, WTAP)
   • The specific molecular contribution of METTL14 (catalytic versus scaffolding/non-catalytic) within the complex was not defined
   • No structural or interaction-mapping data localizing METTL14 within the complex were provided