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Maize Mitochondria: Purification and Characterization of Ribosomes and Ribosomal Ribonucleic Acid ¹

^a Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Florida-Antilles Area, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611

Mitochondria were prepared from etiolated maize shoots (Zea mays L. var. McNair 508) by homogenization followed by differential centrifugation and equilibrium banding in discontinuous sucrose or Renografin-sucrose gradients. Mitochondria prepared by sucrose banding showed better physiological integrity than those prepared by renografin-sucrose banding, although both procedures yielded mitochondria that showed respiratory control and coupling of oxidation to phosphorylation of ADP. Mitochondria prepared by Renografin-sucrose banding were free of dectectable cytoplasmic ribosomal RNA, while sucrose banding resulted in a low level of contamination. Ribosomes isolated from mitochondria sedimented at about 78S, with subunits sedimenting at 60 and 44S. Using Escherichia coli ribosomal RNA as internal standards, the molecular weights of mitochondrial ribosomal RNAs were found to be 0.74 to 0.75 and 1.26 x 10⁶ daltons by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, before or after denaturation in formaldehyde. Cytoplasmic ribosomal RNA molecular weights were 0.70 and 1.26 x 16⁶ before denaturation, and 0.68 and 1.5 x 10⁶ after denaturation, suggesting an unusual reaction of the heavy ribosomal RNA to formaldehyde.

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				C. S. LEVINGS III and D. R. PRING Restriction Endonuclease Analysis of Mitochondrial DNA from Normal and Texas Cytoplasmic Male-Sterile Maize Science, July 9, 1976; 193(4248): 158 - 160. [Abstract] [PDF]