Mitochondrial DNA has been isolated from a cytoplasmic
petite mutant of
Saccharomyces cerevisiae which has retained only about 2% of the mitochondrial
wild type genome. The denatured DNA was analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis and a homogeneous, single band of DNA was found.
Petite and
wild type mitochondrial DNAs exhibited similar gel electrophoretic mobilities. Using denatured DNA from the
E. coli phages
T4 and
T3 for comparison a molecular weight of 55×10
6 daltons has been calculated for the double-stranded
petite mitochondrial DNA. On the basis of this observation most of the mitochondrial DNA of this
petite mutant appeared to consist of a polymer of about 50 repeats to account for a size similar to that of the
wild type molecule. Thus a regulatory mechanism might exist which keeps constant the physical size of the mitochondrial DNA molecule in spite of the elimination of large fractions of the
wild type genome.
Communicated by F. Kaudewitz
Dedicated to Dr. Dr. h. c. Peter Michaelis on the occasion of his 75th birthday