Divergent RNA editing frequencies in hornwort mitochondrial nad5 sequences

Hornwort mitochondrial genomes have some of the highest rates of RNA editing among plants. Comparison of eleven partial mitochondrial nad5 genomic and cDNA sequences from diverse taxa of hornworts reveal 125 edited sites in only 1107 nt. No single sample exhibits more than half of these sites. Ten of the 11 hornwort taxa have between 35 and 54 edited sties each; whereas, the eleventh taxon, Leiosporoceros, which represents a potential sister taxa to all other hornworts, has only eight sites. Comparison of multiple cDNA sequences from several individuals reveals the presence of many immature transcripts showing the heterogonous nature of the progression of editing. Phylogenetic analyses of hornwort genomic and cDNAs sequences reveal that 65 of the 94 phylogenetically informative sites within the hornwort clade are edited positions.