Identification of multiple transcriptional initiation sites on the yeast mitochondrial genome by in vitro capping with guanylyltransferase.

We have studied transcriptional initiation in the mitochondria of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae by analyzing mitochondrial transcripts from grande and petite yeast after labeling in vitro with vaccinia virus guanylyltransferase and alpha-32PGTP. This procedure labels triphosphate-terminated RNA which arises from transcriptional initiation. Exploiting the extremely low GC content (18%) of yeast mitochondrial DNA, we digested the in vitro capped transcripts with the G-specific ribonuclease T1; this resulted in 27 oligonucleotides varying in size from 2 to 51 nucleotides. RNA from 14 overlapping petites was analyzed and 20 transcripts were localized by deletion mapping. Nineteen oligonucleotides were sequences and 13 were identified and precisely localized by comparison with known DNA sequences. In all cases, transcription is initiated at a consensus nonanucleotide sequence which can be considered part of the yeast mitochondrial promoter. We identified initiation sites for the 21 S and 14 S rRNAs; the phenylalanine, f-methionine, and glutamic tRNAs; two sites for the OLI-1 gene; and three for the ori (rep) regions. Most promoters appear to give rise to very long multigene primary transcripts. Examples are multigene transcripts for the glutamic tRNA and COB genes and for the OLI-1, serine tRNA, and Var genes. Since the consensus nonanucleotide sequences at the ori regions are similar to those at other transcriptional initiation sites, it is likely that the same RNA polymerase primes DNA replication and gene transcription.