RNA Editing Machinery in Plant Organelles

Dear Colleagues,

RNA editing is a crucial post-transcriptional modification in plant mitochondria and chloroplasts, where C-to-U conversions—and occasionally U-to-C events—reshape organellar transcripts to ensure proper biogenesis, energy metabolism and developmental progression. In angiosperms, hundreds of mitochondrial and dozens of plastid sites are edited, frequently restoring conserved amino acids, generating start codons, or modulating RNA structure and stability. These reactions are mediated by a multi-component editosome, including PLS-type PPR proteins that confer nucleotide specificity, DYW catalytic domains, and accessory factors such as MORF/RIP, ORRM, OZ1 and PPO1.

In recent years, significant progress has been made in research on the RNA editing mechanism of plant organelles. Many nuclear-encoded trans-acting factors (especially the PPR protein family) have been identified, which are responsible for specifically recognizing the editing sites. Recent breakthroughs enabling de novo organellar RNA editing with synthetic PPR-DYW factors open new avenues for the precision regulation of gene expression in crops. At the same time, the composition and function of multi-subunit RNA editing complex are being gradually elucidated. However, many important issues in this field still need to be explored. Therefore, for this Special Issue, we invite research papers and review articles on the RNA editing mechanism of plant organelles.

We look forward to receiving your contributions and jointly promoting the in-depth development of this important field.

Dr. Jesús Agustín Badillo-Corona
Dr. Noé Valentín Durán Figueroa
Guest Editors

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