Molecular cloning and sequence determination of the nuclear gene coding for mitochondrial elongation factor Tu of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

A 3.1-kilobase Bgl II fragment of Saccharomyces cerevisiae carrying the nuclear gene encoding the mitochondrial polypeptide chain elongation factor (EF) Tu has been cloned on pBR327 to yield a chimeric plasmid pYYB. The identification of the gene designated as tufM was based on the cross-hybridization with the Escherichia coli tufB gene, under low stringency conditions. The complete nucleotide sequence of the yeast tufM gene was established together with its 5'- and 3'-flanking regions. The sequence contained 1,311 nucleotides coding for a protein of 437 amino acids with a calculated Mr of 47,980. The nucleotide sequence and the deduced amino acid sequence of tufM were 60% and 66% homologous, respectively, to the corresponding sequences of E. coli tufA, when aligned to obtain the maximal homology. Plasmid YRpYB was then constructed by cloning the 2.5-kilobase EcoRI fragment of pYYB carrying tufM into a yeast cloning vector YRp-7. A mRNA hybridizable with tufM was isolated from the total mRNA of S. cerevisiae D13-1A transformed with YRpYB and translated in the reticulocyte lysate. The mRNA could direct the synthesis of a protein with Mr 48,000, which was immunoprecipitated with an anti-E. coli EF-Tu antibody but not with an antibody against yeast cytoplasmic EF-1 alpha. The results indicate that the tufM gene is a nuclear gene coding for the yeast mitochondrial EF-Tu.