BIOCHEMICAL METHODS FOR ANALYSIS OF KINETOPLASTID RNA EDITING

RNA editing is a posttranscriptional process involving mRNAs [reviewed by K. Stuart et al. (1997) Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 61, 105-120; G. J. Arts and R. Benne (1996) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1307, 39-54; and S . L. Hajduk and R. S. Sabatini (1996) in Molecular Biology of Parasiti c Protozoa (Smith, D. S., and Parsons, M., Eds.), pp. 134-158, Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford] and tRNAs [K. M. Lonergan and M. Gray (1993) Scie nce 259, 812-816] that has now been described in an increasing number of eukaryotic organisms. In this process sequences differ from their g ene sequences by the addition, removal, or conversion of specific ribo nucleotides. RNA editing was first described within the mitochondrion of kinetoplastid protozoa. Several of the mitochondrial mRNAs in these flagellates have uridine residues inserted and deleted at specific si tes. In some cases, more than 50% of the mRNA is created by RNA editin g. In this article, we describe some of the biochemical methods used i n analyzing the process of RNA editing in kinetoplastid mitochondria. (C) 1998 Academic Press.