Divergent overlapping transcripts at the PET122 locus in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

PET122 is one of three nuclear genes specifically required for translation of the mitochondrial mRNA for cytochrome c oxidase subunit III in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The nucleotide sequence of 2,862 base pairs (bp) of yeast genomic DNA encompassing the PET122 locus shows very close spacing between the PET122 gene (254 codons) and two unidentified open reading frames, termed ORF2 and ORF3. ORF2 is encoded by the same strand of DNA as PET122 and is located 53 bp downstream of PET122, while ORF3 is encoded on the opposite strand and is located 215 bp upstream of PET122. Five transcripts, with sizes of 2.9, 2.3, 2.1, 1.5, and 1.4 kilobases (kb), are produced from this locus. The 2.1- and 1.4-kb transcripts encode ORF3, the 1.5-kb transcript encodes ORF2, and the 2.9- and 2.3-kb transcripts encode PET122. A particularly interesting feature of the ORF3-PET122-ORF2 transcription unit is a 535-base overlap between the 2.3-kb PET122 transcript produced from one strand and a 2.1-kb ORF3 transcript produced from the opposite strand. Similarly, the 2.9-kb PET122 transcript overlaps the 2.1-kb ORF3 transcript by more than 900 bases and the 1.5-kb ORF3 transcript by at least 200 bases. Hence, these pairs of transcripts are antisense to one another and have the potential to regulate, in an interdependent fashion, the posttranscriptional expression of ORF3 and PET122.