Summary  The ndhC and ORF159 genes of the maize plastid DNA (ptDNA) were sequenced and maize ORF159 was used to screen a library of genomic DNA of the blue-green alga Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. The cyanobacterial gene homologous to ORF159 (ORF157) was isolated and sequenced. In sequencing the region upstream of ORF157, reading frames with homology to the ndhC and psbG genes of maize ptDNA were identified. The ndhC and psbG genes overlap in the ptDNAs of maize, tobacco and Marchantia polymorpha, but are separated by a noncoding spacer in Synechocystis. Northern blot analysis showed that the ndhC, psbG and ORF157/159 genes are cotranscribed in maize and Synechocystis. The three genes occur in the same order in ptDNA of maize, tobacco, and M. polymorpha as in Synechocystis 6803. The amino acid sequences of the NDH-C, PSII-G and the ORF157/159 proteins deduced from the maize genes are 65%, 52% and 53% homologous to those of Synechocystis. However, the cyanobacterial and higher plant NDH-C protein sequences are only 23% homologous to the mitochondrial NDH-3 protein. Protein products of in vitro transcription/translation of the Synechocystis transcription unit had apparent molecular masses of 6 kDa (NDH-C), 25 kDa (PSII-G) and 22 kDa (ORF157) on lithium dodecyl sulfate (LDS) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. If these are components of an NADH dehydrogenase, cyanobacteria appear to resemble mitochondria more than they do Escherichia coli and Rhodopseudomonas capsulata with regard to this enzyme complex.