The nucleotides they are a-changin’: function of RNA binding proteins in post-transcriptional messenger RNA editing and modification in Arabidopsis

[Display omitted] •PPRs are mitochondrial RBPs in plants that edit transcripts converting C to UA.•A subset of PPR proteins are important for plant biotic and abiotic stress resistance.•Plant RBPs add and remove m6A modifications as well as regulate modified transcripts.•RBPs regulating m6A in plants are associated with viral resistance and development. During and after transcription, the fate of an RNA molecule is almost entirely directed by the cohorts of interacting RNA-binding proteins (RBPs). RBPs regulate all stages of the life cycle of a messenger RNA (mRNA) molecule, including splicing, polyadenylation, transport out of the nucleus, RNA stability, and translation. In addition to these functions, RBPs can function to modify or edit the sequences encoded by the RNA. While the sequence for each transcript is determined in the genome, by the time an RNA reaches its final fate, the sequence may have been edited, where one nucleotide is converted to another, or modified, where a chemical group, or sometimes others moieties, are covalently linked to a nucleotide base. These changes to the RNA sequence have major consequences on the function of the RNA. Additionally, variation in the levels of the RBPs that perform the editing or modification can drastically affect the fitness of an organism. Here, we review RBPs that are known to edit or modify RNA ribonucleotides, focusing on the RNA editing ability of the pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) proteins and the RBPs that modify adenosine to N6- methyladenosine.