Fig. 1

METTL16 is upregulated in CRC and correlated with poor prognosis. A, C CERES scores of a series of METTL family members and m6A regulators from CRISPR associated protein 9 knockout screening datasets across 56 human CRC cell lines, respectively. The raw data were downloaded from DepMap (https://depmap.org/portal/). CERES scores 0 and − 1 represent the median effect of non-essential genes and common core essential genes, respectively. The lower CERES score represents the higher dependency of the specific gene on cancer progression. The average of CERES scores for each METTL family member was displayed on the right. B, D Another CRISPR associated protein 9 knockout screening datasets across 31 human CRC cell lines were analyzed. The raw data were downloaded from https://score.depmap.sanger.ac.uk/. MYC was identified as the positive control, which was recognized as the promising cancer therapeutic target. The number of cells with essential function and the number of total CRC cell lines were displayed for each gene. For example, METTL16 (31/23) represents that knockout of METTL16 displays essential function in 23 of the 31 CRC cell lines. E-F METTL16 expression in the TCGA CRC cohort. G-I Association of METTL16 mRNA expression with tumor size (G), lymph node metastasis (H), and distant metastasis (I) in CRC patients in TCGA database. N0: no lymph node metastasis; N1: nearby lymph node metastasis; N2: distant lymph node metastasis; M0: no distant metastasis; M1: distant metastasis. (J-L) qRT-PCR (J) and western blotting (K, L) analysis of METTL16 mRNA and protein expression in CRC cell lines and intestinal epithelium cells Ncm460. M Representative images of METTL16 IHC staining in CRC tissues and adjacent tissues. N Scores of METTL16 IHC staining in CRC tissues and adjacent tissues. O Kaplan-Meier survival curves of OS based on METTL16 IHC staining in CRC patients. P Multivariate analysis of CRC patients based on COX regression model was displayed. Some factors associated with CRC patient clinical outcomes were introduced to the model. *P < 0.05, ***P < 0.001