Computational evidence of A-to-I RNA editing in nucleus transcriptome of Arabidopsis thaliana

Abstract

RNA editing is a mechanism that can increase the complexity of the transcriptome via the insertion, deletion, or substitution of single or multiple nucleotides of mRNA sequences. In the last two decades, A-to-I RNA editing, which is catalyzed by the ADAR family enzymes, was discovered in many metazoans. C-to-U and U-to-C RNA editing were found in the mitochondria and plastids of plants. However, there is no report about RNA editing in plant nucleus transcriptome yet. Here, by integrating resources from public databases with computational methods, this paper proposes that A-to-I RNA editing mechanism may exist in the nucleus of Arabidopsis thaliana. Some characteristics of the potential A-to-I RNA editing sites in Arabidopsis thaliana are similar to those we have known in animals.

Key words： RNA editing; nucleus; Arabidopsis thaliana