VeloRM: disentangling pre- and post-splicing RNA modification dynamics at single-cell resolution

RNA modifications critically regulate RNA function and fate, yet their dynamic changes across the RNA life cycle and during cellular transitions remain largely unexplored. Here we introduce VeloRM, a computational framework that captures RNA modification dynamics at single-cell resolution. VeloRM uniquely disentangles presplicing and postsplicing epitranscriptomes, enabling for the first time the identification and differentiation of modification sites on transcripts before versus after splicing. By modeling the velocity of epitranscriptomic changes, VeloRM predicts future RNA modification states and reconstructs cellular trajectories directly from epitranscriptome information. Application to single-cell datasets profiling m6A and A-to-I editing demonstrates that VeloRM accurately recapitulates known trajectory patterns in cell cycle and differentiation. Notably, VeloRM reveals for the first time a set of m6A sites that are hyper-methylated on prespliced RNAs near splice junctions, with dynamic patterns that unveil clear functional implications in splicing regulation. VeloRM represents a rigorous yet powerful tool that opens unprecedented opportunities to study epitranscriptome dynamics during biological transitions.