RNA editing in Drosophila melanogaster: new targets and functionalconsequences

Adenosine deaminases that act on RNA (ADARs) catalyze the site-specific conversion of adenosine to inosine in primary mRNA transcripts. These re-coding events affect coding potential, splice-sites, and stability of mature mRNAs. ADAR is an essential gene and studies in mouse, C. elegans, and Drosophila suggest its primary function is to modify adult behavior by altering signaling components in the nervous system. By comparing the sequence of isogenic cDNAs to genomic DNA, we have identified and experimentally verified 27 new targets of Drosophila ADAR. Our analyses lead us to identify new classes of genes whose transcripts are targets of ADAR including components of the actin cytoskeleton, and genes involved in ion homeostasis and signal transduction. Our results indicate that editing in Drosophila increases the diversity of the proteome, and does so in a manner that has direct functional consequences on protein function