Diverse roles of YTHDC1 in chromatin and blood cancers

Epitranscriptomics, the study of RNA modifications, together with their functional characterization, is emerging as an important area of investigation in RNA biology. Of the over 170 RNA modifications that have been identified on mRNA and non-coding RNAs, N6-methyladenosine (m⁶A) modification to mRNA is recognized as a key regulator of gene expression, splicing and protein translation. Functional readout of m⁶A is mediated by m⁶A readers mostly in the cytoplasm except for the nuclear-localized YTHDC1. m⁶A-YTHDC1 function has recently been extended to include short and long-range fine-tuning of genome activity via chromatin-associated mechanisms. This review summarizes YTHDC1-m⁶A nuclear functions in normal and cancer cells with special focus on its chromatin-associated roles and the ability of YTHDC1 to assemble into higher order nuclear structures called condensates. These processes are disturbed in cancer.