Enhancing recombinant protein and viral vector production in mammalian cells by targeting the YTHDF readers of N6-methyladenosine in mRNA

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most abundant internal modification on eukaryotic mRNA and has been implicated in a wide range of fundamental cellular processes. This modification is regulated and interpreted by a set of writer, eraser, and reader proteins. To date, there have been no reports on the potential of mRNA epigenetic regulators to influence recombinant protein expression in mammalian cells. In this study, the potential of manipulating the expression of the m6A YTH domain-containing readers, YTHDF1, 2 and 3 to improve recombinant protein yield based on their role in regulating mRNA stability and promoting translation were evaluated. Using siRNA-mediated gene depletion, cDNA over-expression, and methylation-specific RNA immunoprecipitation, it is demonstrated that (i) knock-down of YTHDF2 enhances (~2-fold) the levels of recombinant protein derived from GFP and EPO transgenes in CHO cells; (ii) the effects of YTHDF2 depletion on transgene expression is m6A-mediated; and (iii) YTHDF2 depletion, or over-expression of YTHDF1 increases viral protein expression and yield of infectious lentiviral (LV) particles (~2–3-fold) in HEK293 cells. We conclude that various transgenes can be subjected to regulation by m6A regulators in mammalian cell lines and that these findings demonstrate the utility of epitranscriptomic-based approaches to host cell line engineering for improved recombinant protein and viral vector production.