Occurrence of nuclear-encoded tRNAIle in mitochondria of the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha

 Although 29 tRNA genes have been deduced from the complete nucleotide sequence of the mitochondrial genome from the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, a tRNA^Ile gene decoding AUU and AUC codons is conspicuously absent. In order to address the question of the possible involvement of nuclear-encoded tRNA, we isolated and identified three variant copies of the nuclear-encoded tRNA^Ile(AAU) gene from the liverwort. Northern analysis showed the presence of nuclear-encoded tRNA^Ile both in the mitochondrion and the cytosol, while both chloroplast DNA-encoded tRNA^Ile and nuclear-encoded tRNA^Tyr were absent in liverwort mitochondria. These results unequivocally establish that import of nuclear tRNA^Ile into mitochondria indeed occurs in one of the most primitive plants, M. polymorpha. Received: 11 January 1996/18 March 1996