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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2016 Nov 3;18(1):31–42. doi: 10.1038/nrm.2016.132

Figure 3. m6A affects mouse embryonic stem cell differentiation.

Figure 3

The N6-methyl-adenosine (m6A) methyltransferase METTL3 (methyltransferase-like 3) is required for the transition of mouse embryonic stem cells (mouse ES cells) from a naive to the more differentiated primed state. During this process, the key pluripotency factor transcripts POU domain, class 5, transcription factor 1(Pou5f1), Krueppel-like factor 4 (Klf4) and Sox2 must be cleared. In mouse ES cells lacking Mettl3, this clearance is defective because non-methylated mRNAs are less subjected to decay, which prevents the establishment of a differentiated transcriptome required to achieve a primed mouse ES cell state.