PET111, a Saccharomyces cerevisiae Nuclear Gene Required for Translation of the Mitochondrial mRNA Encoding Cytochrome c Oxidase Subunit II

Mutations in the nuclear gene PET111 are recessive and specifically block accumulation of cytochrome c oxidase subunit II (coxII), the product of a mitochondrial gene. However, the coxII mRNA is present in pet111 mutants at a level approximately one-third that of wild type. The simplest explanation for this phenotype is that PET111 is required for translation of the coxII mRNA. The reduced steady-state level of this mRNA is probably a secondary effect, caused by increased degradation of the untranslated transcript. Mitochondrial suppressors of pet111, carried on rho- mtDNAs, bypass the requirement for PET111 in coxII translation. Three suppressors are fusions between the coxII structural gene and other mitochondrial genes, that encode chimeric proteins consisting of the N-terminal portions of other mitochondrially coded proteins fused to the coxII precursor protein. When present together with rho  + mtDNA in a heteroplasmic state, these suppressors allow coxII synthesis in pet111 mutants. Thus in wild type, the PET111 product, or something under its control, probably acts at a site coded in the proximal portion of the gene for coxII to promote translation of the mRNA. PET111 was isolated by molecular cloning and genetically mapped to a position approximately midway between rna1 and SUP8 on chromosome XIII.