mRNA-seq in Control, NAT10 KD, NAT10 and Xrp1 KD in Drosophila

To investigate the extent to which NAT10 knockdown-induced transcriptomic changes depend on the activation of this pathway, we performed mRNA-seq on Drosophila wing discs from en-GAL4/+, en-GAL4 > UAS-NAT10-RNAi, and en-GAL4 > UAS-NAT10-RNAi Xrp1-RNAi larvae. Xrp1 is a key transcription factor involved in sensing ribosomal stress.

We found that the vast majority of differentially expressed genes caused by NAT10 knockdown were rescued by simultaneous knockdown of Xrp1. This observation is consistent with the developmental phenotypes we observed. These results suggest that the primary function of NAT10 is to regulate ribosome biogenesis.