YEAST SCO1 PROTEIN IS REQUIRED FOR A POSTTRANSLATIONAL STEP IN THE ACCUMULATION OF MITOCHONDRIAL CYTOCHROME-C-OXIDASE SUBUNIT-I AND SUBUNIT-II

Biogenesis of functional cytochrome c oxidase in yeast requires the product of the nuclear gene SCO1. Strains deleted for this gene fail to accumulate the mitochondrially-synthesized cytochrome c oxidase subunits I and II, despite the presence of the respective mRNAs. Here we present data which demonstrate that the observed phenotype does not result from a failure to translate the mRNAs, but from a preferential degradation of the newly synthesized subunits. The SCO1 protein is therefore involved in a post-translational step in the accumulation of cytochrome c oxidase subunits I and II. We propose that the SCO1 protein is required for the correct assembly of both subunits into the cytochrome c oxidase complex. © 1990 Springer-Verlag.