Fig. 3: METTL16 is required for maintenance of erythroid identity and genome integrity.

a Heatmap showing the relative mRNA expression levels of erythroid-related and myeloid-related genes in the erythroblasts from E11.5 control and Mettl16^fl/flEpor-Cre⁺ mice. b mRNA expression levels of erythroid-related and myeloid-related genes in the erythroblasts from control (n = 5 mice) and E11.5 Mettl16^fl/flEpor-Cre⁺ mice (n = 4 mice). mRNA expression levels of genes were normalized to the expression level of β-actin (Actb). c GSEA plot showing the enrichment of the hallmarks of UV response and p53 pathway in erythroblasts from E11.5 Mettl16^fl/flEpor-Cre⁺ mice. Statistical analysis was performed using GSEA software. d, e CD71⁺Ter119⁺ erythroblasts of the FL from E11.5 control and Mettl16^fl/flEpor-Cre⁺ mice stained by Hoechst 33342 (red) and anti-γH2AX antibody (green) and analyzed by the confocal microscopy. Representative images of erythroblasts harboring γH2AX-positive micronuclei (arrowhead, d). The enumeration of micronuclei (MN) and γH2AX-positive MN containing cells. The positive cell numbers were divided by all of the analyzed cell numbers (e, n = 3–4 mice pooled from three independent experiments). f Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E, top) and immunohistochemical staining of cleaved caspase-3 (bottom) of the FL from E11.5 control and Mettl16^fl/flEpor-Cre⁺ mice. Data are expressed as mean ± SD (b, e). The p-values were calculated using two-tailed Student’s t-test (b, e). Images are representative of samples obtained from three independent experiments (d, f). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.