Abstract
MITOCHONDRIA contain small amounts of DNA which differ in several chemical and physical properties from nuclear DNA (reviewed in ref. 1). Mitochondrial DNA (MDNA) of yeast2–6 is replicated by a mitochondrial DNA polymerase7 which is different from the nuclear enzyme. (unpublished results of U. Wintersberger and E. W.). A genetic function of MDNA is indicated because it serves as a template for a mitochondrial RNA polymerase8,9. Mitochondrial RNA (MRNA) has been isolated and characterized using highly purified yeast mitochondria. MRNA of yeast separates into three species when subjected to sucrose gradient centrifugation, one with a sedimentation coefficient of about 4S, the other two sedimenting faster. The 4S RNA accepts amino-acids in a manner similar to cytoplasmic tRNA; the other two RNA components were assumed to be derived from mitochondrial ribosomes9. The two ribosomal RNA (rRNA) components of the mitochondria differ in their sedimentation properties from 25S and 17S RNA of the cytoplasmic 80S ribosomes of yeast, and, in contrast, closely resemble the 23S and 16S RNA species of bacterial 70S ribosomes10,11. Hybridization experiments show that yeast MRNA hybridizes readily with MDNA, in sharp contrast to cytoplasmic rRNA which forms hybrids with MDNA very poorly but anneals extensively to nuclear DNA11,12.
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WINTERSBERGER, E., VIEHHAUSER, G. Function of Mitochondrial DNA in Yeast. Nature 220, 699–702 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/220699b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/220699b0
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