Endoribonuclease activities of Trypanosoma brucei mitochondria

RNA editing in kinetoplastids is a type of post-transcriptional processing that changes mitochondrial mRNA sequences by the addition or deletion of uridines. Multiple enzymatic activities, such as endoribonuclease and RNA ligase, are associated with this process and exist in a multienzyme complex. Endonuclease activities from Trypanosoma brucei mitochondrial extracts were fractionated by sequential ion exchange and gel filtration chromatography. The RNA editing specific endonuclease activity co-fractionated with in vitro editing while another endonuclease activity with a different substrate specificity, and the majority of mtRNase P activity fractionated away from the editing activity. The pH, salt, temperature, and Mg(2+) optima of all three endonucleases were determined. All three activities are sensitive to high temperature and protease digestion. In addition, treatment with micrococcal nuclease resulted in partial disruption of the editing complex and decreased pre-cleaved in vitro insertion editing activity, suggesting that both RNA(s) and protein(s) are necessary in the intact functional complex.