Reverse genetic screening identifies five E-class PPR proteins involved in RNA editing in mitochondria of Arabidopsis thaliana.
RNA editing in flowering plant mitochondria post-transcriptionally alters several hundred nucleotides from C to U, mostly in mRNAs. Several factors required for specific RNA-editing events in plant mitochondria and plastids have been identified, all of them PPR proteins of the PLS subclass with a C-terminal E-domain and about half also with an additional DYW domain. Based on this information, we here probe the connection between E-PPR proteins and RNA editing in plant mitochondria. We initiated a reverse genetics screen of T-DNA insertion lines in Arabidopsis thaliana and investigated 58 of the 150 E-PPR-coding genes for a function in RNA editing. Six genes were identified to be involved in mitochondrial RNA editing at specific sites. Homozygous mutants of the five genes MEF18-MEF22 display no gross disturbance in their growth or development patterns, suggesting that the editing sites affected are not crucial at least in the greenhouse. These results show that a considerable percentage of the E-PPR proteins are involved in the functional processing of site-specific RNA editing in plant mitochondria.
Takenaka
Mizuki
M
Molekulare Botanik, Universität Ulm, 89069 Ulm, Germany. Electronic address: mizuki.takenaka@uni-ulm.de.
Verbitskiy
Daniil
D
Molekulare Botanik, Universität Ulm, 89069 Ulm, Germany.
Zehrmann
Anja
A
Molekulare Botanik, Universität Ulm, 89069 Ulm, Germany.
Brennicke
Axel
A
Molekulare Botanik, Universität Ulm, 89069 Ulm, Germany.
D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009154:Mutation; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D017393:RNA Editing / Q000502:physiology*; D018749:RNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D018744:DNA, Plant; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins; D018749:RNA, Plant