Alternative editing of cytochrome c oxidase III mRNA in trypanosome mitochondria generates protein diversity.
Trypanosomes use RNA editing to produce most functional mitochondrial messenger RNA. Precise insertion and deletion of hundreds of uridines is necessary to make full-length cytochrome c oxidase III (COXIII) mRNA. We show that COXIII mRNA can be alternatively edited by a mechanism using an alternative guide RNA to make a stable mRNA. This alternatively edited mRNA is translated to produce a unique protein that fractionates with mitochondrial membranes and colocalizes with mitochondrial proteins in situ. Alternative RNA editing represents a previously unknown mechanism generating protein diversity and, as such, represents an important function for RNA editing.
Ochsenreiter
Torsten
T
Program in Global Infectious Diseases, Josephine Bay Paul Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA.
Hajduk
Stephen L
SL
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017393:RNA Editing; D017394:RNA, Guide, Kinetoplastida / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism*; D000077278:RNA, Mitochondrial; D016053:RNA, Protozoan / Q000378:metabolism*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014346:Trypanosoma brucei brucei / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics
D012333:RNA, Messenger; D000077278:RNA, Mitochondrial; D016053:RNA, Protozoan; C029305:mitochondrial messenger RNA; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV; D017394:RNA, Guide, Kinetoplastida