The manganese superoxide dismutase gene of Caenorhabditis elegans.

We have cloned and sequenced a gene (sod-3) encoding manganese superoxide dismutase from the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The protein-coding region spans 943 bp including three intron sequences and encodes a protein of 227 amino acids (M(r) = 26,367) of which the first 33 amino acids are the presumed mitochondrial-targeting signal peptide. The deduced mature manganese-superoxide dismutase has 194 amino acids (M(r) = 22,193).