In vitro apolipoprotein B mRNA editing: identification of a 27S editing complex.

Specific apolipoprotein B (apoB) mRNA editing can be performed in vitro on apoB RNA substrates. Native gels and glycerol gradient sedimentation have been used to determine the physical properties of the in vitro editing activity in rat liver cytosolic S100 extracts. ApoB RNA substrates were progressively assembled as 27S complexes for 3 hr with similar kinetics as seen for the accumulation of edited RNA. Assembly was not observed on RNAs from apoB deletion constructs that did not support editing. The 27S complex contained both edited and unedited RNA sequences. Inhibition of 27S complex assembly by vanadyl-ribonucleoside complexes was accompanied by inhibition of editing. Based on these data, we propose that the 27S complex is the in vitro "editosome," A "mooring sequence" model for RNA recognition and editosome assembly has been proposed involving RNA sequences flanking the edited nucleotide.