Summary
In studying the process of mitochondrial transcription, mutants that show altered gene expression as evidenced from transcript pattern differences are a valuable resource. However, such mutants are difficult to find since changes in mitochondrial gene expression will most likely be lethal. Several laboratories have been investigating cytoplasmic male-sterile mutants in maize and have reported changes in transcription patterns due to nuclear background influences on the complex chimeric gene region TURF-2H3 in T-cms. There have been no reports of altered transcription patterns for N cytoplasm that can be attributed to nuclear background differences. Through a Northern hybridization analysis of ORF25 transcription in a number of N lines, we reported invariant expression of this region. Subsequently, we have discovered a line B37N, which shows the presence of a single ORF25-specific transcript of 3,400 nucleotides, in contrast to the transcript sizes of 3,400, 2,300 and 1,600 displayed by most of the cytoplasms we have examined. Experiments presented in this communication demonstrate that the differences in the B37N, ORF25 transcript pattern map to the 5′ flanking sequences of the reading frame. Using restriction enzyme mapping and Southern hybridization analysis, no detectable differences were found in the transcription unit structure for this reading frame in B37N and B73N, which shows the standard, three-transcript pattern. Analysis of nuclear background influences indicates that the transcript patterns for this open reading frame are dependent on nuclear background. These data are presented in part 2 of this study.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abbott AG, Fauron CMR (1986) Structural alterations in a transcribed region of the T-type cytoplasmic male-sterile maize mitochondrial genome. Curr Genet 10:777–783
Bland MM, Levings III CS, Matzinger DF (1986) The tobacco mitochondrial ATPase subunit 9 gene is closely linked to an open-reading frame for a ribosomal protein. Mol Gen Genet 204:8–16
Braun CJ, Levings III CS (1985) Nucleotide sequence of the F1-ATPase a-subunit gene from maize mitochondria. Plant Physiol 79:571–577
Christianson TW, Rabinowitz M (1983) Identification of multiple transcriptional initiation sites on the yeast mitochondrial genome by in vitro capping with guanyltransferase. J Biol Chem 258:14025–14033
Dawson AJ, Jones VP, Leaver CJ (1984) The apocytochrome b gene in maize mitochondria does not contain introns and is preceded by a potential ribosome-binding site. EMBO J 3:2107–2113
Dewey RE, Levings III CS, Timothy DH (1985 a) Nucleotide sequence of ATPase subunit 6 gene of maize mitochondria. Plant Physiol 79:914–919
Dewey RE, Schuster AM, Levings III CS, Timothy DH (1985 b) Nucleotide sequence of F0-ATPase proteolipid (subunit 9) gene of maize mitochondria. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 82:1015–1019
Dewey RE, Siedow JN, Timothy DJ, Levings III CS (1988) A 13-kilodalton maize mitochondrial protein in E. coli confers sensitivity to Bipolaris maydis toxin. Science 239:293–295
Fox TD, Leaver CJ (1981) The Zea mays mitochondrial gene coding cytochrome oxidase subunit II has an intervening sequence and does not contain TGA codons. Cell 26:315–323
Heisel R, Brennicke A (1985) Overlapping reading frames in Oenothera mitochondria. FEBS Lett 193:164–168
Heisel R, Schobel W, Schuster W, Brennicke A (1987) The cytochrome oxidase subunit I and subunit III genes in Oenothera mitochondria are transcribed from identical promotor sequences. EMBO J 6:29–34
Issac PG, Brennicke A, Dunbar SM, Leaver CJ (1985 a) The mitochondrial genome of fertile maize (Zea mays) contains two copies of the gene encoding the a-subunit of the F1-ATPase. Curr Genet 10:321–328
Issac PG, Jones VP, Leaver CJ (1985 b) The maize cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene: sequence, expression and rearrangement in cytoplasmic male-sterile plants. EMBO J 4:1617–1623
Kemble RJ, Gunn RE, Flavell RB (1980) Classification of normal and male-sterile cytoplasms in maize. II. Electrophoretic analysis of DNA species in mitochondria. Genetics 95:451–458
Kennell JC, Wise RP, Pring DR (1987) Influence of nuclear background on transcription of a maize mitochondrial region associated with Texas male sterile cytoplasm. Mol Gen Genet 210:399–406
Lonsdale DM, Thompson RD, Hodge TP (1981) The integrated forms of the S1 and S2 DNA elements of maize male-sterile mitochondrial DNA are flanked by a large repeated sequence. Nucleic Acids Res 9:3657–3669
Lonsdale DM, Hodge TP, Fauron CM-R (1984) The physical map and organization of the mitochondrial genome from fertile cytoplasm of maize. Nucleic Acids Res 12:9249–9261
Maniatis T, Fritsch EF, Sambrook J (1982) In: Molecular cloning: a laboratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor NY
Mulligan RM, Maloney AP, Walbot V (1988 a) RNA processing and multiple transcription initiation sites result in transcript size heterogeneity in maize mitochondria. Mol Gen Genet 211:373–380
Mulligan RM, Lau GT, Walbot V (1988 b) Numerous transcription initiation sites exist for the maize mitochondrial genes for subunit 9 of the ATP synthase and subunit 3 of cytochrome oxidase. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 85:7998–8002
Palmer JD, Shields CR (1984) Tripartite structure of the Brassica campestris mitochondrial genome. Nature 307:437–440
Quin J, Fauron CM-R, Brettell RIS, Milhous M, Abbott AG (1987) Toxin resistance and/or male fertility reversion is correlated with defined transcription changes in the 1.5-kb AvaI region of cms T. Nucleic Acids Res 15:6091–6103
Quetier F, Lejeune B, Delorme S, Falconet D (1985) Molecular organization and expression of the mitochondrial genome of higher plants. In: Douce R, Day DA (eds) Encyclopedia of plant physiology. Springer, Berlin, pp 25–36
Rigby PWJ, Diekmann M, Rodes C, Berg P (1977) Labelling DNA to high specific activity by nick translation with DNA polymerase I. J Mol Biol 113:237–251
Schuster W, Brennicke A (1987) Plastid, nuclear and reverse transcriptase sequences in the mitochondrial genome of Oenothera: is genetic information transferred between organelles via RNA? EMBO J 6:2857–2863
Southern EM (1975) Detection of specific sequences among DNA fragments separated by gel electrophoresis. J Mol Biol 98:503–517
Stern DB, Bang AG, Thompson WF (1986) The watermelon mitochondrial URF-1 gene: evidence for a complex structure. Curr Genet 10:857–869
Wahleithner JA, Wolstenholme DR (1988) Ribosomal protein S14 in borad bean mitochondrial DNA. Nucleic Acids Res 16:6897–6913
Walker NH, Qin J, Abbott AG (1987) Northern hybridization analysis of mitochondrial gene expression in maize cytoplasm with varied nuclear backgrounds. Theor Appl Genet 74:531–537
Ward BL, Anderson RS, Wolstenholme DR (1981) The mitochondrial genome is large and variable in a family of plants (Cucurbitaceae). Cell 25:793–803
Wissinger B, Heisel R, Schuster W, Brennicke A (1988) The NADH-dehydrogenase subunit 5 gene in Oenothera mitochondria contains two introns and is co-transcribed with the 5S rRNA gene. Mol Gen Genet 212:56–65
Wise RP, Pring DR, Gengenbach BG (1987) Mutation to fertility and toxin insensitivity in Texas (T) cytoplasm maize is associated with a frameshift in a mitochondrial open-reading frame. Proc. Natl Acad Sci USA 84:2858–2862
Young EG, Hanson MR, Dierks PM (1986) Sequence and transcription of the Petunia gene for the ATP synthase proteolipid subunit. Nucleic Acids Res 14:7995–8006
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by R. Hagemann
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, J., Barth, J. & Abbott, A.G. Higher plant mitochondrial DNA expression. Theoret. Appl. Genetics 82, 765–770 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00227323
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00227323