What question did this study set out to answer?

This research aims to explore the roles and effects of N4-acetylcytidine (ac4C) acetylation on mRNA in plants.

February 2, 2026Open Access

Emerging roles of mRNA acetylation in plants

Key Points

This research aims to explore the roles and effects of N4-acetylcytidine (ac4C) acetylation on mRNA in plants.
Characterization of ACYR-dependent ac4C marks.
Analysis of effects on mRNA expression, stability, splicing, and translation.
Investigation of roles in leaf development, photosynthesis, thermosensory flowering, and plant defense.
Profiling of ac4C modifications using current methods.
Identified ac4C modification impacts mRNA stability and splicing.
Demonstrated significant roles in leaf development and thermosensory responses.
Evidenced implications in photosynthesis efficiency and plant defense mechanisms.

Abstract

N4-acetylcytidine (ac4C) is a conserved acetylation modification on messenger RNA (mRNA) recently identified in plants. It is deposited by the N-ACETYLTRANSFERASE FOR CYTIDINE IN RNA (ACYR) protein, which is homologous to mammalian N-ACETYLTRANSFERASE (NAT10) (Wang et al., 2023; Li et al., 2023). Here, we describe the defining features and functional landscape of ACYR-dependent ac4C marks, their effects on mRNA expression, stability, splicing, and translation, and their roles in leaf development (Wang et al., 2023), photosynthesis (Zhao et al., 2025; Cai et al., 2025), thermosensory flowering (Wu et al., 2025), and plant defense (Lu et al., 2024). We highlight current methods for ac4C profiling and discuss future directions in ac4C research.mRNA acetylation occurs in plants.

Read Full Paperexternally

Bookmark

View Full Paper

Cite This Study

Zhao et al. (Thu,) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6980fd3cc1c9540dea80f045 https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xplc.2026.101742

Bookmark

View Full Paper