Deletions and rearrangements in Kluyveromyces lactis mitochondrial DNA

Three classes of respiratory deficient mutants have been isolated from a fusant between Kluyveromyces lactis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae that contains only K. lactis mtDNA. One class (15 isolates), resemble rho 0 mutants of S. cerevisiae as they lack detectable mtDNA. A second class (16 isolates), resemble point mutations (mit-) or nuclear lesions (pet-) of S. cerevisiae as no detectable change is found in their mtDNA. The third class (five isolates), with deletions and rearrangements in their mtDNA are comparable to S. cerevisiae petite (rho-) mutants. Surprisingly, three of the five deletion mutants have lost the same 8.0 kb sector of the mtDNA that encompasses the entire cytochrome oxidase subunit 2 gene and the majority of the adjacent cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 gene. In the other strains, deletions are accompanied by complex rearrangements together with substoiciometric bands and in one instance an amplified sector of 800 bp. By contrast to G + C rich short direct repeats forming deletion sites in S. cerevisiae mtDNA, excision of the 8.0 kb sector in K. lactis mtDNA occurs at an 11 bp A + T rich direct repeat CTAATATATAT. The recovery of three strains manifesting this deletion suggests there are limited sites for intramolecular recombination leading to excision in K. lactis mtDNA.