The Mitochondrial Genome Sequence of the BS-C-1 Cell Line is at Odds with the Reported Derivation from

The BS-C-1 cell line widely used in virological research was reportedly derived from the African green monkey (. We used Sanger sequencing to determine the full nucleotide sequence of mtDNA in BS-C-1 cells. The mitochondrial genome in this cell line is 16,456 bp long and has an organization typical of that in other mammalian genomes with 37 genes, including 2 rRNAs, 22 tRNAs, and 13 polypeptide-encoding genes. Surprisingly, this genome is most closely related to that of , which does not agree with the reported derivation of this cell line from . Another unexpected observation is the presence of mtDNA length heteroplasmy within the MT-ND6 gene, with the variant containing a stretch of 8 Cs encoding a functional gene, whereas the variant containing 9 Cs encodes a frameshifted gene. It is unclear whether the latter variant is nonfunctional or whether it is corrected by programmed translational ribosomal -1 frameshifting. The availability of the full mtDNA sequence for the BS-C-1 cell line should increase its utility by enabling studies on mtDNA transcription and replication.