Learning cis-regulatory principles of ADAR-based RNA editing from CRISPR-mediated mutagenesis

Adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) RNA editing catalyzed by ADAR enzymes occurs in double-stranded RNAs. Despite a compelling need towards predictive understanding of natural and engineered editing events, how the RNA sequence and structure determine the editing efficiency and specificity (i.e., cis-regulation) is poorly understood. We apply a CRISPR/Cas9-mediated saturation mutagenesis approach to generate libraries of mutations near three natural editing substrates at their endogenous genomic loci. We use machine learning to integrate diverse RNA sequence and structure features to model editing levels measured by deep sequencing. We confirm known features and identify new features important for RNA editing. Training and testing XGBoost algorithm within the same substrate yield models that explain 68 to 86 percent of substrate-specific variation in editing levels. However, the models do not generalize across substrates, suggesting complex and context-dependent regulation patterns. Our integrative approach can be applied to larger scale experiments towards deciphering the RNA editing code. The RNA sequence and secondary structure regulate RNA editing by ADAR. Here the authors employ a CRISPR/Cas9-mediated saturation mutagenesis and machine learning to predict RNA editing efficiency of specific substrates.

Automated summary

RNA editing by ADAR is regulated by RNA sequence and secondary structure. By using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated saturation mutagenesis and machine learning, the authors can predict the RNA editing efficiency of specific substrates. This integrative approach can be scaled up for decoding the RNA editing mechanism on a larger scale.