oli1 Transcripts in wild type and in a cytoplasmic "petite" mutant of yeast

Subunit 9 of ATPase is known to be encoded in the oli1 gene of yeast mitochondrial DNA. The oli1 transcripts of wild type and of a cytoplasmic "petite" mutant have been analyzed by hybridization of mitochondrial RNA to various DNA fragments from the internal and flanking regions of the gene and by S1 nuclease mapping of the 5' and 3' ends. The results of such studies indicate that the ATPase gene is co-transcribed with the downstream serine tRNA gene. The oli1 message and tRNA are generated by post-transcriptional processing. Two of the nucleolytic processing steps are blocked in the cytoplasmic petite mutant, resulting in the accumulation of several different intermediate transcripts containing both genes. Processing of the 3' ends occurs near a common seven-nucleotide sequence (5'-ATTCTTA-3') also found in the 3' regions of other mitochondrial genes. This sequence is proposed to be part of a signal necessary for either termination of transcription or RNA processing.