Low temperature affects the processing pattern and RNA editing status of the mitochondrial cox2 transcripts in wheat

We investigated the effects of low temperature on the expression of mitocho ndria-encoded genes in wheat. During the course of our study, we found that the transcriptional pattern of cox2 was affected by low temperature. North ern blot analysis indicated that the precursor transcript before intron spl icing was clearly increased by cold, although the level of mature message w as not changed. We also found that cold treatment severely suppressed RNA e diting at intron-binding site I of the precursor transcript, which plays an important role in intron splicing. These results suggest that low temperat ure could affect the post-transcriptional regulation of wheat mitochondrial cox2 transcripts, i.e. intron splicing and/or RNA editing.