BTN1, A YEAST GENE CORRESPONDING TO THE HUMAN GENE RESPONSIBLE FOR BATTENS-DISEASE, IS NOT ESSENTIAL FOR VIABILITY, MITOCHONDRIAL-FUNCTION,OR DEGRADATION OF MITOCHONDRIAL ATP SYNTHASE

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae gene BTN1, encodes a 408 amino acid putat ive integral membrane protein, which is 39% identical and 59% similar to the human Cln3p, whose mutant forms are responsible for Batten's di sease and for a diminished degradation of mitochondrial ATPase synthas e subunit c. Disruption experiments established that Btn1p is not esse ntial for viability, mitochondrial function, or degradation of mitocho ndrial ATP synthase in yeast. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.