The E35 stopper mutant of Neurospora crassa: precise localization of deletion endpoints in mitochondrial DNA and evidence that the deleted DNA codes for a subunit of NADH dehydrogenase.

Two types of defective mitochondrial DNA molecules with large deletions (5 kbp and 40 kbp) have previously been identified in the stopper mutant, E35, of Neurospora crassa. The junction fragments spanning the deletion endpoints have now been cloned and sequenced, and their sequences compared with those of the corresponding wild-type fragments. We show that both types of defective mitochondrial DNAs result from deletions of sequences flanked by short direct repeats, which are themselves parts of larger inverted repeat sequences. In every case, the short direct repeat sequences consist of a run of pyrimidines in one strand and purines in the other. We also report the sequence of a 2151-bp HindIII fragment, which is deleted in both of the defective mitochondrial DNAs. Besides the previously identified gene for a methionine tRNA, the 2151-bp DNA sequence contains an open reading frame with the potential to code for a hydrophobic protein 583 amino acids long. This hydrophobic protein has three blocks of significant homology with proteins coded by URF2 found in other mitochondrial genomes. Since the mammalian mitochondrial URF2 has recently been shown to code for a subunit of NADH dehydrogenase, part of the DNA sequence missing in the E35 stopper mutant of N. crassa may also code for a subunit of NADH dehydrogenase.