Cloning and sequencing of the gene for apocytochrome b of the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis strains WM27 (NRRL Y-17066) and WM37 (NRRL Y-1140)

The apocytochrome b genes from two strains of the yeast Kluyveromyces lactis, have been isolated and sequenced. The coding sequences in strains WM27 (NRRL Y-17066) and WM37 (NRRL Y-1140) were identical but the upstream noncoding regions were slightly different. The sequences demonstrated the presence of a continuous open reading frame with no introns. The amino acid sequence, derived from the coding strand, showed 82% homology to the apocytochrome b of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain D273-10B and only 58% homology to the protein from Schizosaccharomyces pombe strain 50. CUN and CGN codon families were absent from the K. lactis gene. Codon usage was very similar to that of other mitochondrial genomes with mostly U or A in the third position. There were two unusual features. All threonines were coded by ACA(U) and all arginines by AGA.