title: Reduction of RNA A-to-I editing in Drosophila acclimated to heat shock.
abstract: Although an increasing number of RNA adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) editing sites are being discovered, how the editing frequencies of these sites are modulated to fine-tune protein function in adaptive responses is not well understood. A previous study screening for heat tolerance in Drosophila mutants discovered a hypnos-2 mutant strain that was later found to be defective in dADAR, the Drosophila gene encoding the A-to-I editing enzyme. This supports the hypothesis that cells and organisms respond to stressful environments by ADAR (adenosine deaminase acting on RNA)-mediated RNA editing. Here, we investigated changes in the RNA A-to-I editing frequencies of 30 Drosophila nervous system targets in response to heat shock, a stress acclimatization that requires the dADAR function. To our surprise, most of these nervous system editing targets showed reduced editing. Our results suggest that a change in RNA editing pattern is a mechanism by which organisms acclimate to drastic environmental change. However, how RNA editing confers heat resistance is more complicated and requires further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Gender Studies, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Natural Products, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stocker
authors.forename: Hurng-Wern
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Hong-Ming
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hsueh-Wei
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Chien-Chih
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.forename: Chung-Lung
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Chao-Neng
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Tseng
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000241:Adenosine / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D006358:Hot Temperature; D007288:Inosine / Q000235:genetics*; D017393:RNA Editing
chemical_list: D007288:Inosine; D000241:Adenosine
keywords: Adenosine deamination; Heat shock; I-specific cleavage; RNA editing; dADAR (ADAR)