Rare and misincorporated DNA N6-methyladenine is a hallmark of cytotoxic stresses for selectively stimulating the stemness and proliferation of glioblastoma cells

The entity of DNA N-6-methyladenine (6mA) in mammals remains elusive and subsequently its roles in diseases are poorly understood. Here we exploited a bacterial DNA contamination-free and ultrasensitive UHPLC-MS/MS assay to reassess DNA 6mA in human glioblastomas and unveiled that DNA 6mA (similar to 0.08 ppm) is extremely rare. By the use of two independent heavy stable isotope-labeling strategies, we further prove that the observed 6mA is solely generated by DNA polymerase-mediated misinocorporation. In vitro experiments point toward that the generation of misincorporated DNA 6mA is associated with the cellular stresses-caused release of RNA N-6-methyladenine (m 6 A) nucleoside, which is profoundly inhibited by hypoxia milieu. Consistently, compared with normal brain tissues, DNA 6mA decreases in hypoxic human gliomas. Our data also strongly support that rare DNA 6mA rather than relatively abundant DNA 5-methylcytosine and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine is a hallmark of poor prognosis of IDH1/2 mutationabsent glioblastoma patients, reflecting the incidence of cytotoxic stresses and subsequent release of m(6)A nucleoside. The released m(6)A nucleoside may selectively preserve a subset of the glioblastoma cells and stimulate their stemness and proliferation. Noteworthily, demethylation-inhibiting IDH1 mutation increases the DNA 6mA content in human gliomas, but the depletion of the demethylase candidate ALKBH1 fails to do so, together suggesting the presence of other unknown 6mA demethylase for erasing misincorporated DNA 6mA. This is the first report on the identification of the misincorporated 6mA together with its origin and roles in diseases.

Automated summary

The entity of DNA N-6-methyladenine (6mA) in mammals remains elusive and its roles in diseases are poorly understood. In this study, a bacteria-free UHPLC-MS/MS assay was used to reassess DNA 6mA in human glioblastomas and it was found to be extremely rare. Further experiments revealed that the observed 6mA is solely generated by DNA polymerase-mediated misincorporation. The generation of misincorporated DNA 6mA is associated with the release of RNA N-6-methyladenine (m6A) nucleoside, which is inhibited by hypoxia milieu.