N⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A) is the most abundant internal chemical modification of mRNA, yet its role in mRNA decay remains incompletely understood.
In this work, we show that m⁶A triggers ribosome collisions on mRNA during protein synthesis. These collisions lead to mRNA decay and are tuned by tRNA modifications. This unexpected functional interaction between tRNA and mRNA modifications regulates mRNA stability, providing a new mechanism by which our cells control gene expression.

This research was conducted in the group of Prof. Dr. Sebastian Leidel in collaboration with the group of Prof. Dr. Lars Steinmetz (Stanford University).

References:

• B. Linder, P. Sharma, J. Wu, T. Birbaumer, C. Eggers, S. Murakami, R. E. Ott, K. Fenzl, H. Vorgerd, F. Erhard, S. R. Jaffrey, S. A. Leidel, L. M. Steinmetz;
  "tRNA modifications tune m⁶A-dependent mRNA decay"
  Cell, 2025, 188(14), 3715-3727.e13; doi:10.1016/j.cell.2025.04.013.