A Role for A-to-l RNA Editing in Temperature Adaptation

摘要

A-to-l RNA editing can recode mRNAs, giving organisms the option to express diverse, functionally distinct protein isoforms. Here, we propose that RNA editing is inherently geared for temperature adaptation because it tends to recode to smaller, lessstabilizing amino acids. Studies on how editing affects protein function support this idea.The central dogma to biology states that information is stored in genes and realized in proteins. Before being translated, it passes through RNA, a transient molecule that is relatively easy to manipulate. By altering RNA, an organism can regulate the information that it conveys. Organisms edit RNA by a variety of mechanisms, most notably by splicing. In recent years, nucleotide deamination by a variety of mechanisms has been shown to be important as well. In animals, the most common form of editing involves the hydrolytic deamination of adenosines to inosines, a process catalyzed by the ADAR (Adenosine Deaminase Acting on RNA) family of enzymes. Because inosines are read as guanosine by the ribosome (2), editing can result in amino acid recoding.