Assembly and function of the RNA editing complex in Trypanosoma brucei requires band III protein.

ABSTRACT: Trypanosome RNA editing, the posttranscriptional insertion and deletion of U residues in mitochondrial transcripts, is catalyzed by a protein complex containing seven distinct proteins. In this study, we cloned the gene for band III, a 555-amino-acid protein with two separate zinc finger motifs. We prepared antibodies that showed band III protein cofractionates with the previously characterized band IV protein throughout the purification of the editing complex and is not found free or in other protein associations; therefore, it is a true constituent of the editing complex. Double-stranded RNA interference efficiently depleted band III protein and demonstrated that band III expression is essential for growth of procyclic trypanosomes and for RNA editing. These depleted cell extracts were d

SUBMITTER: Huang CE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC133760 | biostudies-literature | 2002 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature