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gRNA/pre-mRNA annealing and RNA chaperone activities of RBP16

¹ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14214, USA
² Witebsky Center for Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology, School of Medicine, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14214, USA

Editing in trypanosomes involves the addition or deletion of uridines at specific sites to produce translatable mitochondrial mRNAs. RBP16 is an accessory factor from Trypanosoma brucei that affects mitochondrial RNA editing in vivo and also stimulates editing in vitro. We report here experiments aimed at elucidating the biochemical activities of RBP16 involved in modulating RNA editing. In vitro RNA annealing assays demonstrate that RBP16 significantly stimulates the annealing of gRNAs to cognate pre-mRNAs. In addition, RBP16 also facilitates hybridization of partially complementary RNAs unrelated to the editing process. The RNA annealing activity of RBP16 is independent of its high-affinity binding to gRNA oligo(U) tails, consistent with the previously reported in vitro editing stimulatory properties of the protein. In vivo studies expressing recombinant RBP16 in mutant Escherichia coli strains demonstrate that RBP16 is an RNA chaperone and that in addition to RNA annealing activity, it contains RNA unwinding activity. Our data suggest that the mechanism by which RBP16 facilitates RNA editing involves its capacity to modulate RNA secondary structure and promote gRNA/pre-mRNA annealing.

Keywords: RNA editing; trypanosomatids; RNA annealing; RNA chaperone; cold shock domain; Y-box protein

Reprint requests to: Laurie K. Read, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, State University of New York at Buffalo, 138 Farber Hall, Buffalo, NY 14214, USA; e-mail: lread{at}acsu.buffalo.edu; fax: (716) 829-2158.

Article published online ahead of print. Article and publication date are at http://www.rnajournal.org/cgi/doi/10.1261/rna.982908.

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