RNA editing

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RNA editing (also RNA modification) is a molecular process through which some cells can make discrete changes to specific nucleotide sequences within an RNA molecule after it has been generated by RNA polymerase. It occurs in all living organisms and is one of the most evolutionarily conserved properties of RNAs.[1][2][3] RNA editing may include the insertion, deletion, and base substitution of nucleotides within the RNA molecule. RNA editing is relatively rare, with common forms of RNA processing (e.g. splicing, 5'-capping, and 3'-polyadenylation) not usually considered as editing. It can affect the activity, localization as well as stability of RNAs, and has been linked with human diseases.[1][2][3][4]

RNA editing has been observed in some tRNA, rRNA, mRNA, or miRNA molecules of eukaryotes and their viruses, archaea, and prokaryotes.[5] RNA editing occurs in the cell nucleus, as well as within mitochondria and plastids. In vertebrates, editing is rare and usually consists of a small number of changes to the sequence of the affected molecules. In other organisms, such as squids,[6] extensive editing (pan-editing) can occur; in some cases the majority of nucleotides in an mRNA sequence may result from editing. More than 160 types of RNA modifications have been described so far.[7]

RNA-editing processes show great molecular diversity, and some appear to be evolutionarily recent acquisitions that arose independently. The diversity of RNA editing phenomena includes nucleobase modifications such as cytidine (C) to uridine (U) and adenosine (A) to inosine (I) deaminations, as well as non-template nucleotide additions and insertions. RNA editing in mRNAs effectively alters the amino acid sequence of the encoded protein so that it differs from that predicted by the genomic DNA sequence.[8]

The Editosome Complex
  1. ^ a b Li S, Mason CE (2013). "The pivotal regulatory landscape of RNA modifications". Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics. 15: 127–150. doi:10.1146/annurev-genom-090413-025405. PMID 24898039.
  2. ^ a b Song CX, Yi C, He C (November 2012). "Mapping recently identified nucleotide variants in the genome and transcriptome". Nature Biotechnology. 30 (11): 1107–1116. doi:10.1038/nbt.2398. PMC 3537840. PMID 23138310.
  3. ^ a b Meyer KD, Jaffrey SR (May 2014). "The dynamic epitranscriptome: N6-methyladenosine and gene expression control". Nature Reviews. Molecular Cell Biology. 15 (5): 313–326. doi:10.1038/nrm3785. PMC 4393108. PMID 24713629.
  4. ^ Sun WJ, Li JH, Liu S, Wu J, Zhou H, Qu LH, Yang JH (January 2016). "RMBase: a resource for decoding the landscape of RNA modifications from high-throughput sequencing data". Nucleic Acids Research. 44 (D1): D259–D265. doi:10.1093/nar/gkv1036. PMC 4702777. PMID 26464443.
  5. ^ Su AA, Randau L (August 2011). "A-to-I and C-to-U editing within transfer RNAs". Biochemistry. Biokhimiia. 76 (8): 932–937. doi:10.1134/S0006297911080098. PMID 22022967. S2CID 11283810.
  6. ^ "New genetic editing powers discovered in squid". phys.org. Retrieved 2020-04-05.
  7. ^ Boccaletto P, Machnicka MA, Purta E, Piatkowski P, Baginski B, Wirecki TK, et al. (January 2018). "MODOMICS: a database of RNA modification pathways. 2017 update". Nucleic Acids Research. 46 (D1): D303–D307. doi:10.1093/nar/gkx1030. PMC 5753262. PMID 29106616.
  8. ^ Brennicke A, Marchfelder A, Binder S (June 1999). "RNA editing". FEMS Microbiology Reviews. 23 (3): 297–316. doi:10.1111/j.1574-6976.1999.tb00401.x. PMID 10371035.