Helicase Hmi1 stimulates the synthesis of concatemeric mitochondrial DNA molecules in yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Hmi1p is a helicase in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae required for maintenance of the wild-type mitochondrial genome. Disruption of the HMI1 ORF generates rho(-) and rho(0) cells. Here we demonstrate that, in rho(-) yeast strains, Hmi1p stimulates the synthesis of long concatemeric mitochondrial DNA molecules associated with a reduction in the number of nucleoids used for mitochondrial DNA packaging. Surprisingly, the ATPase negative mutants of Hmi1p can also stimulate the synthesis of long concatemeric rho(-) mitochondrial DNA molecules and support the maintenance of the wild-type mitochondrial genome, albeit with reduced efficiency. We show that, in the mutant hmi1-5 background, the wild-type mitochondrial DNA is fragmented; and we propose that, in hmi1Delta yeast cells, the loss of the wild-type mitochondrial genome is caused by this fragmentation of the mitochondrial DNA.