Characteristic Features of the Nucleotide Sequences of Yeast Mitochondrial Ribosomal Protein Genes as Analyzed by Computer Program GeneMark

The nucleotide sequence data for yeast mitochondrial ribosomalprotein (MRP) genes were analyzed by the computer program GeneMarkwhich predicts the presence of likely genes in sequence databy calculating statistical biases in the appearance of consecutivenucleotides. The program uses a set of standard sequence datafor this calculation. We used this program for the analysisof yeast nucleotide sequence data containing MRP genes, hopingto obtain information as to whether they share features in commonthat are different from other yeast genes. Sequence data setsfor ordinary yeast genes and for 27 known MRP genes were used.The MRP genes were nicely predicted as likely genes regardlessof the data sets used, whereas other yeast genes were predictedto be likely genes only when the data set for ordinary yeastgenes was used. The assembled sequence data for chromosomesII, III, VIII and XI as well as the segmented data for chromosomeV were analyzed in a similar manner. In addition to the knownMRP genes, eleven ORF's were predicted to be likely MRP genes.Thus, the method seems very powerful in analyzing genes of heterologousorigins.