Presence of a chloroplast-like elongator tRNAMet gene in the mitochondrial genomes of soybean and Arabidopsis thaliana

Summary The nucleotide sequence of elongator tRNA^Met genes from soybean chloroplast and mitochondria and Arabidopsis thaliana mitochondria have been determined. The mitochondrial tRNA^Met genes from soybean and A. thaliana are identical, and they differ from the soybean chloroplast tRNA^Met gene by only four nucleotides. Analysis of the flanking regions indicates that the mitochondrial tRNA^Met gene is not present on a large chloroplast DNA insertion in the mitochondrial genome, but it suggests that they have a common origin. Comparison of the three genes and the evolutionary implications are discussed.