In vitro processing of transcripts containing novel tRNA-like sequences (?t-elements?) encoded by wheat mitochondrial DNA

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Abstract
We have recently described the properties of a wheat mitochondrial extract that is able to process, accurately and efficiently, artificial transcripts containing wheat mitochondrial tRNA sequences, with the production of mature tRNAs (P.J. Hanic-Joyce and M.W. Gray, J. Biol. Chem., in press). Such processing involves 5′-endonucleolytic, 3′-endonucleolytic, and TRNA nucleotidyltransferase activities. Here we show that this system also acts on transcripts containing sequences corresponding to an unusual class of short repeats (‘t-elements’) in wheat mtDNA. These repeats are theoretically capable of assuming a tRNA-like secondary structure, although stable transcripts corresponding to them are not detectable in vivo. We find that t-element sequences are processed with the same specificity and with comparable efficiency as are authentic tRNA sequences. Because known t-elements are located close to and in the same transcriptional orientation as active genes (18S-5S, 26S, tRNAPro) in wheat mtDNA, our results raise the question of whether t-elements play a role in gene expression in wheat mitochondria.