Assembly of the mitochondrial membrane system. The DNA sequence of a mitochondrial ATPase gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The mitochondrial DNA of a cytoplasmic "petite" mutant (DS400/A3) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been characterized by restriction endonuclease analysis and by DNA sequencing. The DNA has a repeat length of 1,800 base pairs and contains the oli 1 and pho 2 loci, two known markers of the ATPase proteolipid subunit. The nucleotide sequence has helped to establish the presence in the DS400/A3 DNA of the proteolipid gene flanked by two long stretches of DNA rich in A + T. The sequence of the structural gene is in excellent agreement with the previously reported primary structure of the proteolipid. The DNA sequence also indicates that the mitochondrial codons of yeast are highly nondegenerate. The proteolipid gene has been precisely localized on the restriction map of the wild type genome. In addition, it has been possible to orient the gene with respect to other genetic markers and to determine the direction of its transcription.