Variation in frequency of plastid RNA editing within <i>Adiantum</i> implies rapid evolution in fern plastomes

Premise Recent studies of plant RNA editing have demonstrated that the number sites can vary widely among large taxonomic groups (orders, families). Yet, very little is known about intrageneric variation in frequency editing, and no study has been conducted ferns. Methods We determined plastid RNA-editing counts for two species Adiantum (Pteridaceae), A. shastense aleuticum, by implementing a pipeline integrated read-mapping SNP-calling software to identify sites. then compared edits found aleuticum with previously published from capillus-veneris generating alignments each gene. Results direct evidence 505 509 shastense, 350 capillus-veneris. observed striking location three species, reverse (U-to-C) showing higher degree conservation than forward (C-to-U) Additionally, involving start stop codons were highly conserved. Conclusions Variation within implies be rapidly gained or lost throughout evolution. However, varying degrees between both C-to-U U-to-C codons, versus other hints at likely independent origin types potential selective advantage conferred editing.