Heterogeneity of mitochondrial DNA from Saccharomyces carlsbergensis. Denaturation mapping by electron microscopy.

Electronmicroscopic observation of the denaturation pattern of 130 partially denaturated linear mitochondrial DNA molecules from Saccharomyces carlsbergensis was used to investigate the distribution of AT-rich sequences within the mitochondrial genome. The molecules were observed after heating to 43 degrees C in the presence of 12% formaldehyde. These conditions resulted in an average denaturation per molecule of 21%. The average length of the molecules was 10 mum, and a few molecules had a length corresponding to the size of the complete genome. The undenaturated regions varied in length from 0.1 to 5.0 mum with denaturated regions of length 0.02 to 0.1 mum in between. A denaturation map was constructed by use of one of the long molecules (28.7 mum) as a master molecule for positioning of all other molecules. This map shows distinct regions corresponding to the position of easily denaturated sequences in the mitochondrial DNA. These sequences which presumably correspond to the very AT-rich regions, known to exist in the yeast mitochondrial DNA, were found at intervals of about 0.5 - 3 mum on the map.