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Eight respiratory-deficient mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii have been isolated after mutagenic treatment with acriflavine or ethidium bromide. They are characterized by their inability to grow or their very reduced growth under heterotrophic conditions. One mutation (Class III) is of nuclear origin whereas the seven remaining mutants (Classes I and II) display a predominantly paternal mt- inheritance, typical of mutations residing in the mitochondrial DNA. Biochemical analysis has shown that all mutants are deficient in the cyanide-sensitive cytochrome pathway of the respiration whereas the alternative pathway is still functional. Measurements of complexes II + III (antimycin-sensitive succinate-cytochrome c oxido-reductase) and complex IV (cytochrome c oxidase) activities allowed to conclude that six mutations have to be localized in the mitochondrial apocytochrome b (COB) gene, one in the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) gene and one in a nuclear gene encoding a component of the cytochrome oxidase complex. By using specific probes, we have moreover demonstrated that five mutants (Class II mutants) contain mitochondrial DNA molecules deleted in the terminal end containing the COB gene and the telomeric region; they also possess dimeric molecules resulting from end-to-end junctions of deleted monomers. The two other mitochondrial mutants (Class I) have no detectable gross alteration. Class I and Class II mutants can also be distinguished by the pattern of transmission of the mutation in crosses. An in vivo staining test has been developed to identify rapidly the mutants impaired in cyanide-sensitive respiration.

Mitochondrial mutants of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii that are inactivated in the cytochrome pathway of respiration have previously been isolated. Despite the fact that the alternative oxidase pathway is still active the mutants have lost the capacity to grow heterotrophically (dark + acetate) and display reduced growth under mixotrophic conditions (light + acetate). In crosses between wild-type and mutant cells, the meiotic progeny only inherit the character transmitted by the mt- parent, which indicates that the mutations are located in the 15.8 kb linear mitochondrial genome. Two new mutants (dum-18 and dum-19) have now been isolated and characterized genetically, biochemically and at the molecular level. In addition, two previously isolated mutants (dum-11 and dum-15) were characterized in more detail. dum-11 contains two types of deleted mitochondrial DNA molecules: 15.1 kb monomers lacking the subterminal part of the genome, downstream of codon 147 of the apocytochrome b (COB) gene, and dimers resulting from head-to-head fusion of asymmetrically deleted monomers (15.1 and 9.5 kb DNA molecules, respectively). As in the wild type, the three other mutants contain only 15.8 kb mitochondrial DNA molecules. dum-15 is mutated at codon 140 of the COB gene, a serine (TCT) being changed into a tyrosine (TAC). dum-18 and dum-19 both inactivate cytochrome c oxidase, as a result of frameshift mutations (addition or deletion of 1 bp) at codons 145 and 152, respectively, of the COX1 gene encoding subunit I of cytochrome c oxidase. In a total of ten respiratory deficient mitochondrial mutants characterized thus far, only mutations located in COB or COX1 have been isolated.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The PIF1 and MRS2 gene products have previously been shown to be essential for mitochondrial DNA maintenance at elevated temperatures and mitochondrial group II intron splicing, respectively, in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A multicopy suppressor capable of rescuing the respiratory deficient phenotype associated with null alleles of either gene has been isolated. This suppressor is a nuclear gene that was called RIM2/MRS12. The RIM2/MRS12 gene encodes a predicted protein of 377 amino acids that is essential for mitochondrial DNA metabolism and proper cell growth. Inactivation of this gene causes the total loss of mitochondrial DNA and, compared to wild-type rhoo controls, a slow-growth phenotype on media containing glucose. Analysis of the RIM2/MRS12 protein sequence suggests that RIM2/MRS12 encodes a novel member of the mitochondrial carrier family. In particular, a typical triplicate structure, where each repeat consists of two putative transmembrane segments separated by a hydrophilic loop, can be deduced from amino acid sequence comparisons and the hydropathy profile of RIM2/MRS12. Antibodies directed against the aminoterminus of RIM2/MRS12 detect this protein in mitochondria. The function of the RIM2/MRS12 protein and the substrates it might transport are discussed.

Abstract. In addition to lethal minute colony mutations which correspond to loss of mitochondrial DNA, acriflavin induces in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii a low percentage of cells that grow in the light but do not divide under heterotrophic conditions. Two such obligate photoautotrophic mutants were shown to lack the cyanide-sensitive cytochrome pathway of the respiration and to have a reduced cytochrome c oxidase activity. In crosses to wild type, the mutations are transmitted almost exclusively from the mating type minus parent. A same pattern of inheritance is seen for the mitochondrial DNA in crosses between the two interfertile species C. reinhardtii and Chlamydomonas smithii. Both mutants have a deletion in the region of the mitochondrial DNA containing the apocytochrome b gene and possibly the unidentified URFx gene. T HE green unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtiiconstitutes the best model for classical and molecular genetic studies of chloroplast biosynthesis and function. This mainly results from the availability of a large collection of nuclear and non-Mendelian mutants affected in photosynthesis or synthesis of chloroplast components. Mutations localized in the mitochondrial DNA (mit DNA) ~ would be very useful for similar studies on the mitochondria and for the analysis of functional relations between the two organelles. However, attempts to isolate mit DNA mutations have been so far unsuccessful in Chlamydomonas.In baker's yeast, the intercalating dye acriflavin (AF) induces vegetative petite mutations with 100% efficiency (7). The petite mutants are conditional lethal which survive only when grown on a fermentable carbon source. On a carbon source that must be respired, they die because essential elements of the mitochondria, such as cytochrome oxidase or cytochrome b, are missing. AF-induced mutants either lack mit DNA or have mit DNA molecules containing large deletions (for a review, see reference 8). Alexander et al. (1) sion was observed which led Alexander et al. (1) to conclude that the mutations might arise from alterations of mit DNA. This was recently confirmed by Gillham et al. (9) who showed that the induction of minute mutations is accompanied by specific loss of mit DNA. In addition, the nonMendelian inheritance of the minute phenotype could be explained in terms of transmission of mit DNA by the mating type minus (mt-) parent exclusively (9), as observed in crosses between the two interfertile species C. reinhardtii and Chlamydomonas smithii (4).Viable mutants affected in mitochondrial function have also been isolated in Chlamydomonas after mutagenic treatment with nitrosoguanidine (19,20). Contrary to wild type, the mutants were unable to grow in heterotrophic conditions (darkness + acetate) and were defective in cytochrome oxidase activity. Most of these obligate photoautotrophs were mutated in nuclear genes (19). Two mutants however gave a non-Mendelian, random biparental pattern of transmission in crosses to wild type but the results were obscured by the fact that the mutant ...