[Study on the editing sites of the coxII gene transcripts of rice mitochondria]

The term RNA editing is generally used to describe those molecular processes in which the information content is altered in an RNA molecule. This process is not limited to mRNA since alterations of non-informational RNA have also been found. RNA editing exists extensively in the higher plant mitochondria, and is the necessary step for forming functional proteins. In this paper, the research materials are the gametopthyte male sterility line (A), maintainer line (B) and F1 hybrid (F1) of HL-type CMS. 15 editing sites are found in the transcripts of coxII by comparing cDNAs and DNAs sequences. A,B and F1 have same Editing sites. When editing occurs at the first or second position of codons, the encoded amino acid is likely to be altered. As a result, the conservation of the predicted protein is improved as compared with other organisms.