Is abundant A-to-I RNA editing primate-specific?
A-to-I RNA editing is common in all eukaryotes, and is associated with various neurological functions. Recently, A-to-I editing was found to occur frequently in the human transcriptome. In this article, we show that the frequency of A-to-I editing in humans is at least an order of magnitude higher than in the mouse, rat, chicken or fly genomes. The extraordinary frequency of RNA editing in human is explained by the dominance of the primate-specific Alu element in the human transcriptome, which increases the number of double-stranded RNA substrates.
Eisenberg
Eli
E
Compugen Ltd, 72 Pinchas Rosen St, Tel-Aviv 69512, Israel. elie@compugen.co.il
Nemzer
Sergey
S
Kinar
Yaron
Y
Sorek
Rotem
R
Rechavi
Gideon
G
Levanon
Erez Y
EY
D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D000241:Adenosine / Q000737:chemistry*; D020087:Alu Elements; D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D019295:Computational Biology; D004330:Drosophila; D016678:Genome; D015894:Genome, Human; D006801:Humans; D007288:Inosine / Q000737:chemistry*; D011323:Primates; D017393:RNA Editing; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded / Q000737:chemistry; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000737:chemistry*; D051381:Rats
D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D007288:Inosine; D000241:Adenosine