Nuclear association in yeast of a hybrid vector containing mitochondrial DNA.

The hybrid vector pCP2, consisting of the bacterial plasmid pBR325, the nuclear gene Leu-2 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and a fragment of mitochondrial DNA from Cephalosporium acremonium, was found to associate with the nucleus in a transformed strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This was inducted by (1) efficient expression of the Leu-2 gene as evidenced by a short generation time on selective medium; (2) independence of Leu-2 gene expression from mitochondrial protein synthesis, since pCP2 was shown to replicate and to be expressed in petite mutants; (3) association of pCP2 with isolated DNA from nuclei as proved by transformation experiments with E. coli.