Preferential RNA editing at specific sites within transcripts of two plant mitochondrial genes does not depend on transcriptional context or nuclear genotype.

Transcripts of most plant mitochondrial protein-coding genes exhibit C-to-U RNA editing events. In Petunia, two co-transcribed genes, nad3 and rps12, exhibit transcripts which are not fully edited at all potential editing sites. We investigated the nad3/rps12 transcript population in four different genotypes. In one pair of genotypes, the nuclear genome is identical but the nad3/rps12 genes are in different transcriptional contexts. Both the nad3/ rps12 genes and the plant mitochondrial genomes are identical in a second pair of genotypes, but the nuclear background is derived from two different Petunia species. We found that the overall extent of editing varied greatly between genotypes and is affected by nuclear genotype but not by the global transcriptional context. Local sequence context around a particular site does affect editing frequency. In all genotypes, certain sites exhibit high editing frequency, but these sites do not share obvious primary sequence characteristics. In all genotypes examined, editing sites which do not affect the encoded amino acid are less frequently edited than sites which alter codons to non-synonymous forms. All these data indicate that an unidentified property of the sequences immediately surrounding a cytosine affect its selection as a target in the editing process.