Interorganellar gene transfer in bryophytes: the functional nad7 gene is nuclear encoded in Marchantia polymorpha

The nad7 gene, encoding subunit 7 of NADH dehydrogenase, is mitochondrially encoded in seed plants. In the liverwort, Marchantia polymorpha, only a pseudogene is located in the mitochondrial genome. We have now identified the functional nad7 gene copy in the nuclear genome of Marchantia, coding for a polypeptide of 468 amino acids. The nuclear-encoded nad7 has lost the two group II introns present in the mitochondrial pseudogene copy. Instead, a typical nuclear intron is found to split an exon encoding the presumptive mitochondrial targeting signal peptide and the mature subunit 7 of NADH dehydrogenase. These results suggest that RNA-mediated gene transfer from the mitochondrial into the nuclear genome occurs not only in seed plants but also in bryophytes. Received: 11 March 1997 / Accepted: 20 August 1997