Assembly of the mitochondrial membrane system. Sequence of the oxi 2 gene of yeast mitochondrial DNA.

The region of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) containing the oxi 2 locus has been sequenced in a rho- clone (DS40) derived from the respiratory competent strain D273-10B/A48 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The DS40 clone was established to have retained only genetic markers in the oxi 2 locus and to have a segment of mtDNA extending from 18.6 to 24.3 units of the wild type map. The mitochondrial genome of DS40 includes a sequence that has been tentatively identified as the structural gene of Subunit 3 of cytochrome oxidase. The coding sequence is 810 nucleotides long and generates a protein with a molecular weight of 30,340. The amino acid composition of the oxi 2 gene product deduced from the nucleotide sequence is in agreement with the composition of the purified Subunit 3 of yeast cytochrome oxidase. The orientation of the DS40 mtDNA segment relative to wild type mtDNA indicates that the oxi 2 gene is transcribed from the same DNA strand as the oxi 1 and several other mitochondrial genes.