Assembly of the Mitochondrial Membrane System. DNA Sequence of Subunit 2 of Yeast Cytochrome Oxidase

A cytoplasmic "petitie" mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (DS200/A1) has been isolated and determined to contain mitochondrial genetic markers in the oxi 1 locus. This locus has previously been reported to code for the structural gene of subunit 2 of cytochrome oxidase (Cabral et al. (1978) J. Biol. Chem. 243, 297-304). The segment of mitochondrial DNA retained in DS200/A1 has a repeat length of approximately 4500 base pairs and based on DNA sequencing contains a 756-nucleotide-long sequence that has been identified as the structural gene of subunit 2 of cytochrome oxidase. The presumptive gene sequence generates an amino acid sequence consistent with the reported molecular weight and composition of subunit 2 of yeast cytochrome oxidase. The correctness of the deduced amino acid sequence is further supported by its extensive homology to the primary structure of bovine cytochrome oxidase. The DNA segment of DS200/A1 has been located on the wild type mitochondrial DNA by comparative restriction mapping. The orientation of the COOH and NH2 termini and the direction of transcription of the gene have been determined.