Fig. 3

Functional roles of RNA editing. Adenosine and cytidine deaminases target RNAs molecules and modify their sequence affecting multiple processes. A-to-I or C-to-U modifications in RNA transcripts are reflected in the folding of the RNA structure influencing its structural stability and binding accessibility for further processing [199]. mRNA abundance and gene expression is regulated by miRNA or miRNA target editing, influencing gene silencing by RNA degradation [84, 156]. Protein diversity is another outcome of RNA editing since it can create or abolish splicing sites regulating alternative splicing [54]. Moreover, editing in coding regions can recode amino acids and create an alternative protein with distinct functionalities [4]. Recoding protein example was built with SWISS-MODEL workspace [200]