DNA sequence and secondary structure of the mitochondrial small subunit ribosomal RNA coding region including a group-IC2 intron from the cultivated basidiomycete Agrocybe aegerita

Due to their structural complexity and their evolutionary dimension, rRNAs are the most investigated nucleic acids in prokaryotes, eukaryotes and organelles. However, no complete sequence of a mitochondrial small subunit (SSU) rRNA was available in the basidiomycotina subdivision. The mitochondrial gene encoding the SSU rRNA of the cultivated basidiomycete Agrocybe aegerita was cloned and its complete nucleotide sequence achieved; the 5'- and 3'-ends were localized by nuclease S1 mapping, leading to a size of 3277 nt. The secondary structure of the SSU rRNA (1906 nt in size) possessed all the helices and loops of the prokaryotic model; a unique modification was found in a conserved nucleotide predicted by the model: the nt 487 was A instead of C. The same modification, has been found in all the partial basidiomycete mitochondrial sequences available in databases, The Agrocybe aegerita SSU rRNA was characterized by large and unusual extensions leading to additional helices in the variable domains V4, V6 and V9, which were the longest of the known prokaryotic or mitochondrial SSU rRNAs. Nucleotide sequence analysis indicated a 1371-bp intron, belonging to subgroup-IC2, located in a conserved loop in the 3'-part of the SSU rRNA. This intron, which is the second example reported in a fungal mitochondrial SSU rDNA, encoded a putative protein (407 aa) sharing homologies with endonucleases involved in group-I intron mobility. This report constitutes the first complete mitochondrial SSU rRNA sequence and secondary structure of any member of the basidiomycotina subdivision.