Differential screening of mitochondrial cDNA libraries from male-fertile and cytoplasmic male-sterile sugar-beet reveals genome rearrangements at atp6 and atpA loci.

As part of a strategy to define differences in genome organization and expression between cytoplasmic male-sterile (CMS) and male-fertile (MF) sugar-beet mitochondria, cDNA libraries from both mitochondrial genotypes were constructed. Preliminary screening with ribosomal RNA gene probes identified candidate cDNA clones corresponding to structural genes. In addition, reciprocal hybridization experiments were performed using labelled first-strand cDNA to identify uniquely transcribed sequences. One cDNA clone (pYC700) is unique to CMS mitochondria and is located upstream of the F0F1-ATPase subunit 6 gene (atp6). Another cDNA clone (pYC130), when used as a probe in northern hybridization analysis, revealed novel transcript profiles in CMS sugar-beet mitochondria. Sequence analysis of this cDNA showed strong homology with the F0F1-ATPase subunit alpha (atpA) coding sequences from several higher plants. The atp6 and atpA loci from each genotype were cloned and the genomic organization, DNA sequence and transcription of each locus was studied. Differences in the transcript profiles of each gene are a consequence of genomic rearrangements 5' to the coding sequence.