Reference "RNA editing in plant mitochondria"

Reference ID

9083

Title

RNA editing in plant mitochondria

Source

Nature, 1989, vol. 341, pp. 662-666

Authors (2)

Covello-P-S

Gray-M-W

Abstract

A basic principle of molecular biology is that the primary sequence of RNA
faithfully reflects the primary sequence of the DNA from which it is
transcribed. This concept has been challenged recently by the discovery of RNA
editing, broadly defined as any process that changes the nucleotide sequence of
an RNA molecule from that of the DNA template encoding it. Examples of RNA
editing (see ref. 2 for review) include the insertion and deletion of uridine
residues in mitochondrial messenger RNAs in kinetoplastid protozoa, the
conversion of a cytidine to uridine in mammalian apolipoprotein-B mRNA, and the
appearance of two non-templated guanosine residues in a paramyxovirus
transcript. In these cases, RNA editing either re-tailors a non-functional
transcript, producing a translatable mRNA, or modifies an already functional
mRNA so that it generates a protein of altered amino-acid sequence. Here we
report an editing phenomenon that involves the conversion of cytidine to uridine
at multiple positions in the mRNA for subunit II of cytochrome c oxidase in
wheat mitochondria. Such RNA editing provides an explanation for apparent coding
anomalies in plant mitochondria.