High levels of ADAR overexpression induce abundant and stochastic off-target RNA editing in rice protoplasts
2026-01-06
(Press-News.org)
This study was led by Professor Kabin Xie (National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China). The authors found that overexpression of ADARdd in rice protoplasts leads to abundant off-target editing, a phenomenon not observed in leaves of stable transgenic rice plants overexpressing ADARdd (ADAR deaminase domain). To investigate the underlying mechanisms, the authors systematically explored the effects of ADARdd expression levels, protoplast physiology, and the presence of RNA-binding domains or a nuclear localization signal (NLS) on off-target editing. The results indicated that off-target editing by ADARdd was independent of protoplast physiology. Furthermore, the introduction of an RNA-binding domain or NLS also failed to prevent off-target activity in protoplasts transient expression. Further analysis indicated that the high levels of ADARdd overexpression alone is sufficient to cause global off-target editing.
The authors further demonstrated that ADARdd-mediated off-target editing is characterized by pronounced stochasticity and low efficiency. The off-target editing sites (OFTEs) detected in protoplasts exhibited an even distribution across mRNAs, with editing efficiencies generally below 40%. In contrast, high-confidence editing sites identified in leaves of OsDRB1-ADARdd overexpressing plants (Yin et al., 2023) were significantly enriched in untranslated regions (UTRs), with efficiencies ranging from 40% to 100%. Further analysis of transcriptome data established an empirical expression threshold for ADARdd (log₂[TPM] < 13) to minimize off-target editing and identified several endogenous promoters that might exceed this threshold. This analysis suggested that ADARdd expression driven by the rice UBIQUITIN promoter remained below the threshold in stable transgenic plants, resulting in minimal off-target effects. However, several stress-inducible promoters, including the OsSalT and OCPI2 promoters, can exceed this threshold under stress conditions and thus require careful validation for use in RNA editing applications.
This study provides a comprehensive evaluation of the off-target effects of ADARdd and provides guidelines for improving RNA editing accuracy in plants. The authors also emphasize that protoplast-based assessments of proximity-directed RNA editors require rigorous validation.
See the article:
High levels of ADAR overexpression induce abundant and stochastic off-target RNA editing in rice protoplasts
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2662173825002140
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2026-01-06
Academician Yu-Zhong Wang's team at Sichuan University proposed an innovative "LEGO" strategy, successfully upgrading and recycling waste polyethylene (PE) into high-performance materials with multiple functions. This strategy degrades PE into oligomers, which are then modularly assembled with different functional monomers through dynamic imine bonds. This allows for customized functionalization, achieving multiple functions such as flame retardancy, antistatic properties, UV shielding, and dyeability. Simultaneously, the resulting material exhibits good physical and chemical recyclability. ...
2026-01-05
URBANA, Ill. — For centuries, scientists have known that plants "breathe" through microscopic pores on their leaves called stomata. These tiny valves are the gatekeepers that balance the intake of carbon dioxide into the leaf for photosynthesis against the loss of water vapor from the leaf to the atmosphere. Now, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a groundbreaking new tool that allows them to watch and quantify this process in real-time and under strictly controlled environmental conditions.
The study, published in the journal Plant Physiology, introduces a system dubbed "Stomata In-Sight." It solves a long-standing ...
2026-01-05
Anorexia nervosa is a psychiatric condition characterized by a fear of weight gain and reduced calorie consumption that can result in dangerous weight loss. This condition is thought to affect around 1-4% of all women, and those who suffer from it, or have suffered from it, are estimated to be three times more likely to die prematurely than those who have never had it.
Anorexia nervosa (or AN) doesn’t just result in fat loss. It can also result in a 20-30% loss of skeletal muscle strength and size, which is critical to longevity and the ability to do basic activities like grocery shopping or picking up babies. Along with treating the psychiatric component, ...
2026-01-05
ITHACA, N.Y. – Shifting from numerical to narrative-based performance reviews can significantly impact employees’ perceptions of fairness and their likelihood of improving performance based on the feedback, according to Cornell University-led research.
The study, published in the Academy of Management Discoveries, compared responses to performance feedback delivered in one of three formats: numerical-only, narrative-only or a combination of both. Their findings suggest that narrative-only feedback was generally perceived as the fairest, and gives ...
2026-01-05
Scientists have taken a major step toward improving how wastewater treatment systems deal with emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, antibiotics, and endocrine disrupting chemicals. In a new perspective article published in New Contaminants, researchers present a comprehensive framework explaining how advanced oxidation processes, or AOPs, remove these hard to eliminate pollutants from water.
Emerging contaminants are often present at very low concentrations, but they can pose long term risks to ecosystems and human health. Many conventional ...
2026-01-05
A new comprehensive review highlights how converting biomass into gaseous fuels such as hydrogen, methane, and syngas could play a critical role in the global transition to low-carbon energy systems. By combining techno-economic analysis with life-cycle assessment, the study provides one of the clearest pictures to date of when and where biomass-based gaseous fuels can be both climate-friendly and economically viable.
The review, published in Energy & Environment Nexus, examines thermochemical conversion pathways that transform agricultural residues, forestry waste, and other ...
2026-01-05
Climate change is not only warming the planet and disrupting rainfall, it is also quietly rewiring the way nitrogen moves through the world’s croplands, forests, and grasslands. This hidden shift in the global nitrogen cycle carries major consequences for food security, water quality, biodiversity, and climate policy.
Nitrogen is a basic building block of proteins and DNA, and healthy terrestrial ecosystems depend on a steady but balanced flow of nitrogen through soils, plants, and microbes. When that balance is disturbed, harvests can fall, rivers can turn green with algae, and more greenhouse gases can escape into the atmosphere.
“In a warming world, nitrogen ...
2026-01-05
Embargoed for release until 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday 5 January 2026
Follow @Annalsofim on X, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and Linkedin
Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing ...
2026-01-05
EVANSTON, Ill. --- A groundbreaking new study reveals that changes to the gut microbiome can change the way the brain works.
Humans have the largest relative brain size of any primate, but little is known about how mammals with larger brains evolved to meet the intense energy demands required to support brain growth and maintenance.
A new study from Northwestern University provides the first empirical data showing the direct role the gut microbiome plays in shaping differences in the way the brain functions across different primate species.
“Our study shows that microbes are acting on traits ...
2026-01-05
Public health researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health used computer modeling to reconstruct how the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic unfolded in the U.S. The findings highlight the rapid spread of pandemic respiratory pathogens and the challenges of early outbreak containment. The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the first to comprehensively compare the spatial transmission of the last two respiratory pandemics in the U.S. at the metropolitan scale.
In the U.S., the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic was responsible for 274,304 hospitalizations ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] High levels of ADAR overexpression induce abundant and stochastic off-target RNA editing in rice protoplasts
