Organization and nucleotide sequence of two chromosomal genes for rat cytochrome c oxidase subunit VIc: a structural and a processed gene.

A rat genomic library was screened with a cDNA probe coding for rat liver cytochrome c oxidase subunit VIc (COX-VIc). Out of 16 clones mapped, four inserts were different and did not overlap. Two inserts that gave strong hybridization signals were characterized by sequence analysis. These data show that we have cloned two different genes for rat COX-VIc. The rat COX-VIc-2 gene contains four exons and three introns. The 5' boundary of the first exon was mapped by primer extension experiments. The nucleotide sequence of the first three exons is identical to the sequence of the rat liver cDNA probe; thus, we can conclude that this gene is expressed in rat liver. The second gene (COX-VIc-1) is 88% homologous to the rat liver cDNA and contains an open reading frame of 228 nucleotides capable of coding for a full-length COX-VIc polypeptide of 76 amino acids. This predicted translation product is 79% homologous to the rat liver peptide. The absence of introns and other factors, such as the presence of a 13-bp direct repeat and a poly(A) addition signal, indicate that this locus is a processed gene which may have evolved from spliced mRNA intermediates.