C-to-U conversion in the intercistronic ndhI/ndhG RNA of plastids from monocot plants: conventional editing in an unconventional small reading frame?

Abstract.

Editing of plastid RNAs proceeds by C-to-U, in hornwort species also by extensive U-to-C, transitions, which predominantly lead to the restoration of codons for structurally and/or functionally important, conserved amino acid residues. So far, only one instance of editing outside coding regions has been reported – in the psbL/psbF intergenic region of Ginkgo biloba. This site was proposed to have no functional importance. Here we present an evaluation of an editing site in the ndhI/ndhG intergenic region in a related group of monocot plants. Efficient editing of this site, as well as the phylogenetic conservation of the resulting uridine residue, point at an important role for the sequence restored by editing. Two potential functions can be envisaged. (1) RNA secondary structure predictions suggest that the C-to-U conversion at this site can lead to a modified stem/loop structure of the ndhG 5′ UTR, which could influence ndhG expression. (2) Alternatively, editing of the ndhI/ndhG intergenic region may tag a so far unidentified small (12-codon) ORF, and lead to the restoration of a conserved phenylalanine codon. A screen with specific antibodies elicited against the putative peptide failed to detect such a peptide in chloroplast fractions. However, this failure may be attributable to its low and/or development-specific expression.