RNA editing makes mistakes in plant mitochondria: editing loses sense in transcripts of a rps19 pseudogene and in creating stop codons in coxI and rps3 mRNAs of Oenothera.

An intact gene for the ribosomal protein S19 (rps19) is absent from Oenothera mitochondria. The conserved rps19 reading frame found in the mitochondrial genome is interrupted by a termination codon. This rps19 pseudogene is cotranscribed with the downstream rps3 gene and is edited on both sides of the translational stop. Editing, however, changes the amino acid sequence at positions that were well conserved before editing. Other strange editings create translational stops in open reading frames coding for functional proteins. In coxI and rps3 mRNAs CGA codons are edited to UGA stop codons only five and three codons, respectively, downstream to the initiation codon. These aberrant editings in essential open reading frames and in the rps19 pseudogene appear to have been shifted to these positions from other editing sites. These observations suggest a requirement for a continuous evolutionary constraint on the editing specificities in plant mitochondria.     

水稻线粒体coxⅡ基因转录本的编辑位点研究

RNA编辑是指由RNA水平的核苷酸改变所引起的密码子发生变化的一种预定修饰,它的发现是近年来对分子生物学中心法则的重要补充。本文以红莲型(HL)水稻细胞质雄性不育系粤泰A,保持系粤泰B和杂种F_1(不育系A与恢复系71068的杂交一代)为材料,首次研究了线粒体基因coxⅡ转录本的编辑位点。coxⅡ基因的转录本有15个编辑位点,其中有14个发生在密码子的第一和第二位点。这14个位点的编辑可改变氨基酸的种类,并导致所编码蛋白的疏水性以及所编码蛋白在氨基酸序列上的保守性增加。     

RNA editing in plant mitochondria

RNA editing in plant mitochondria alters nearly all mRNAs by C to U and U to C transitions. In some species more than 400 edited sites have been identified with significant effects on the encoded proteins. RNA editing occurs in higher and lower plants and presumably has evolved before the differentiation of land plants. Current research focuses on the elucidation of the biochemistry and the specificity determinants of RNA editing in plant mitochrondria.