Volume 48, Issue 12 pp. 1473-1477
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Rice Mitochondrial Genes Are Transcribed by Multiple Promoters That Are Highly Diverged

Qun-Yu Zhang

Qun-Yu Zhang

Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics and Biotechnology of Guangdong, College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China

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Yao-Guang Liu

Corresponding Author

Yao-Guang Liu

Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics and Biotechnology of Guangdong, College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China

*Author for correspondence: Tel: +86 (0)20 8528 1908; Fax: +86 (0)20 8528 0200; E-mail: <[email protected]>.Search for more papers by this author
First published: 05 December 2006
Citations: 10

Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30420340).

Abstract

Plant mitochondrial genes are often transcribed into complex sets of mRNA. To characterize the transcription initiation and promoter structure, the transcript termini of four mitochondrial genes, atp1, atp6, cob, rps7, in rice (Oryza sativa L.), were determined by using a modified circularized RNA reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction method. The results revealed that three genes (atp1, atp6, rps7) were transcribed from multiple initiation sites, indicating the presence of multiple promoters. Two transcription termination sites were detected in three genes (atp6, cob, rps7), respectively. Analysis on the promoter architecture showed that the YRTA (Y=T or C, R=A or G) motifs that are widely present in the mitochondrial promoters of other monocotand dicot plant species were detected only in two of the 12 analyzed promoters. Our data suggest that the promoter sequences in the rice mitochondrial genome are highly diverged in comparison to those in other plants, and the YRTA motif is not an essential element for the promoter activity.

(Managing editor: Li-Hui Zhao)

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