SITE-SELECTIVE INHIBITION OF PLASTID RNA EDITING BY HEAT-SHOCK AND ANTIBIOTICS - A ROLE FOR PLASTID TRANSLATION IN RNA EDITING

RNA editing in higher plant plastids changes single cytidine residues to uridine through an unknown mechanism, In order to investigate the r elation of editing to physiological processes and to other steps in pl astid gene expression, we have tested the sensitivity of chloroplast R NA editing to heat shock and antibiotics, We show that heat shock cond itions as well as treatment of plants with prokaryotic translational i nhibitors can inhibit plastid RNA editing, Surprisingly, this inhibito ry effect is confined to a limited number of plastid editing sites sug gesting that some site-specific factor(s) but none of the general comp onents of the plastid RNA editing machinery are compromised, Contrary to previous expectations, our results provide evidence for a role of p lastid translation in RNA editing.