The mitochondrial genome of fertile maize (Zea mays L.) contains two copies of the gene encoding the alpha-subunit of the F1-ATPase.

In contrast to the situation in animals and fungi the alpha-subunit of the mitochondrial F1-ATPase is encoded by two identical mitochondrial genes (ATP A) in male fertile maize (Zea mays L.). Cytoplasmic male sterile (T, C and S) maize mitochondrial genomes only contain a single copy of the gene. Sequence analysis reveals that the uninterrupted coding region of both copies of the gene is 1,524 bp long and encodes a polypeptide of 508 amino acids with a molecular weight of 55,117. The predicted amino acid sequence shares over 60% homology with the nuclear encoded alpha-subunit from yeast and bovine ATPase and approx. 50% with the corresponding chloroplast and bacterial polypeptides.