No editing of mitochondrial plasmid transcripts in mitochondria of Physarum that have an RNA-editing system

Two types of RNA editing have been reported in the mitochondria of Physarum; extensive insertions of nucleotides and single-base substitutions. In the Ng strain of P. polycephalum and its derivatives, mitochondria have a specific plasmid (mF) that promotes fusion of mitochondria. We examined the editing of transcripts derived from the mF plasmid. For analysis, we selected three regions of the plasmid, including a DNA fragment that corresponded to missing conserved domains of the RNA polymerase. In contrast to the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), no RNA editing of the transcripts of the mF plasmid was detected. Our results suggest that the mechanism of transcription of the mitochondrial plasmid is independent of that of mtDNA, indicating that the plasmid has a different evolutionary origin from the mtDNA.