DETECTION OF NOVEL TRANSCRIPTS IN THE HUMAN MITOCHONDRIAL-DNA REGION CODING FOR ATPASE8-ATPASE6 SUBUNITS

We have analyzed the tRNA(Lys), ATPase8, ATPase6, COIII region of mito chondrial DNA in several human tissues. Beside the mature tRNA(Lys), A TPase8 and ATPase6 common mRNA, and COIII mRNA, we have characterized two new transcripts, called RNA 20 and RNA 21. The RNA 20 is a precurs or species which contains the tRNA(Lys) plus the ATPase8 and ATPase6 c ommon mRNA; the RNA 21 is an RNA species shorter than the ATPase8 and ATPase6 common mRNA. The relative concentration of the mature with res pect to that of the new species proved different in the various tissue s. These findings provide new insights into the mitochondrial transcri ption mechanism opening the question of a possibly regulatory role of the processing on the expression of the mitochondrial genome.