Isolation and characterization of nuclear genes coding for subunits of the yeast ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase complex.

Nuclear genes coding for the Mr 17 000, 14 000 and 11 000 subunits of the ubiquinol-cytochrome c reductase complex (complex III) in yeast have been isolated from a clone bank of yeast nuclear DNA by use of a mRNA hybridization-competition assay. This is based on our observations that levels of mRNAs for these subunits are much reduced during glucose repression and in cytoplasmic petite mutants and the procedure should be of general application for the isolation of other inducible or repressible genes coding for mRNAs present at low levels in the cell. A first characterization of the clones is presented. The genes are not closely linked in the genome and those coding for Mr 14 000 and 11 000 subunits are present in unique genomic environments, which suggests that there are only single copies of each in the nuclear genome.