{"id":2180,"date":"2026-03-06T14:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T20:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lsom.uthscsa.edu\/molecular-medicine\/?p=2180"},"modified":"2026-03-06T14:13:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T20:13:42","slug":"n6-adenosine-methylation-enhances-nuclear-mrna-export-through-mettl3-and-nup93","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lsom.uthscsa.edu\/molecular-medicine\/2026\/03\/06\/n6-adenosine-methylation-enhances-nuclear-mrna-export-through-mettl3-and-nup93\/","title":{"rendered":"N6-adenosine methylation enhances nuclear mRNA export through METTL3 and NUP93"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Nuclear export of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) through nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) is a critical step in gene expression. Although\u00a0N6-adenosine methylation (m6A) has been implicated in this process, the underlying mechanism remains obscure. Here we demonstrate, using single-molecule imaging, that m6A markedly accelerates the nuclear export of messenger ribonucleoproteins (mRNPs) by increasing export efficiency and shortening export time through NPCs. We further show that the m6A methyltransferase METTL3 localizes at NPCs and functionally associates with the nucleoporin NUP93 to promote the efficient export of m6A-modified mRNPs. The disruption of this functional association between METTL3 and NUP93 substantially impairs overall mRNP export efficiency. Notably, a steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome (SRNS)-associated\u00a0NUP93\u00a0variant (c.1162C&gt;T, p.Arg388Trp) fails to associate with METTL3, resulting in the defective nuclear export of key methylated mRNAs required for kidney function. Together, our findings define an m6A\u2013METTL3\u2013NUP93 regulatory axis for nuclear mRNA export with broad implications for human disease.<\/p>\n<p>Lee, J.H., Tingey, M., Zhang, Z.\u00a0et al.\u00a0N6-adenosine methylation enhances nuclear mRNA export through METTL3 and NUP93.\u00a0Nat Cell Biol\u00a0(2026).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Abstract Nuclear export of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) through nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) is a critical step in gene expression. Although\u00a0N6-adenosine methylation (m6A) has been implicated in this process, the underlying mechanism remains obscure. Here we demonstrate, using single-molecule imaging, that m6A markedly accelerates the nuclear export of messenger ribonucleoproteins (mRNPs) by increasing export efficiency and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":478,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"class_list":["post-2180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-highimpactpublication"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>N6-adenosine methylation enhances nuclear mRNA export through METTL3 and NUP93 - Department of Molecular Medicine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lsom.uthscsa.edu\/molecular-medicine\/2026\/03\/06\/n6-adenosine-methylation-enhances-nuclear-mrna-export-through-mettl3-and-nup93\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"N6-adenosine methylation enhances nuclear mRNA export through METTL3 and NUP93 - Department of Molecular Medicine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Abstract Nuclear export of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) through nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) is a critical step in gene expression. Although\u00a0N6-adenosine methylation (m6A) has been implicated in this process, the underlying mechanism remains obscure. Here we demonstrate, using single-molecule imaging, that m6A markedly accelerates the nuclear export of messenger ribonucleoproteins (mRNPs) by increasing export efficiency and [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/lsom.uthscsa.edu\/molecular-medicine\/2026\/03\/06\/n6-adenosine-methylation-enhances-nuclear-mrna-export-through-mettl3-and-nup93\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Department of Molecular Medicine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-06T20:10:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-06T20:13:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rodriguezdr\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"rodriguezdr\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lsom.uthscsa.edu\\\/molecular-medicine\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/06\\\/n6-adenosine-methylation-enhances-nuclear-mrna-export-through-mettl3-and-nup93\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lsom.uthscsa.edu\\\/molecular-medicine\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/06\\\/n6-adenosine-methylation-enhances-nuclear-mrna-export-through-mettl3-and-nup93\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"rodriguezdr\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lsom.uthscsa.edu\\\/molecular-medicine\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/983ecf8b28241c9aee59373d2d59c889\"},\"headline\":\"N6-adenosine methylation enhances nuclear mRNA export through METTL3 and NUP93\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-06T20:10:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-06T20:13:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lsom.uthscsa.edu\\\/molecular-medicine\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/06\\\/n6-adenosine-methylation-enhances-nuclear-mrna-export-through-mettl3-and-nup93\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":198,\"articleSection\":[\"High Impact Publications\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lsom.uthscsa.edu\\\/molecular-medicine\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/06\\\/n6-adenosine-methylation-enhances-nuclear-mrna-export-through-mettl3-and-nup93\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/lsom.uthscsa.edu\\\/molecular-medicine\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/06\\\/n6-adenosine-methylation-enhances-nuclear-mrna-export-through-mettl3-and-nup93\\\/\",\"name\":\"N6-adenosine methylation enhances nuclear mRNA export through METTL3 and NUP93 - 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