Yagi Yusuke, Nakamura Takahiro, Small Ian
Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, 812-8581, Japan.
Plant J. 2014 Jun;78(5):772-82. doi: 10.1111/tpj.12377. Epub 2014 Jan 29.
The pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) protein family, which is particularly prevalent in plants, includes many sequence-specific RNA-binding proteins involved in all aspects of organelle RNA metabolism, including RNA stability, processing, editing and translation. PPR proteins consist of a tandem array of 2-30 PPR motifs, each of which aligns to one nucleotide in the RNA target. The amino acid side chains at two or three specific positions in each motif confer nucleotide specificity in a predictable and programmable manner. Thus, PPR proteins appear to provide an extremely promising opportunity to create custom RNA-binding proteins with tailored specificity. We summarize recent progress in understanding RNA recognition by PPR proteins, with a particular focus on potential applications of PPR-based tools for manipulating RNA, and on the challenges that remain to be overcome before these tools may be routinely used by the scientific community.
五肽重复序列（PPR）蛋白家族在植物中尤为普遍，其中包括许多序列特异性RNA结合蛋白，这些蛋白参与细胞器RNA代谢的各个方面，包括RNA稳定性、加工、编辑和翻译。PPR蛋白由2至30个PPR基序串联排列组成，每个基序与RNA靶标中的一个核苷酸对齐。每个基序中两到三个特定位置的氨基酸侧链以可预测和可编程的方式赋予核苷酸特异性。因此，PPR蛋白似乎为创建具有定制特异性的RNA结合蛋白提供了极具前景的机会。我们总结了在理解PPR蛋白对RNA的识别方面的最新进展，特别关注基于PPR的RNA操纵工具的潜在应用，以及在科学界能够常规使用这些工具之前仍有待克服的挑战。
