Guide RNA

Trypanosomatid protists and other kinetoplastids have a novel post-transcriptional mitochondrial RNA modification process known as "RNA editing". The mitochondrial genome in these cells consists of 20-50 maxicircles that encode genes and "cryptogenes" (and some gRNAs) and 10-20,000 minicircles that encode gRNAs. All of these molecules are catenated into a giant network of DNA that is situated at the base of the flagellum in the inner compartment of the single mitochondrion.