Two substitutions at the same position in the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of S. cerevisiae induce a mitochondrial myxothiazol resistance and impair the respiratory growth of the mutated strains abbeit maintaining a good electron transfer activity.

Two cytochrome b respiratory-deficient mutants were sequenced and their DNA base change identified, leading to the replacement of glycine (G137 by valine or glutamic acid. No variation in their cytochrome b content with regard to cytochrome oxidase and cytochrome (c + c1) was found to have occurred. Their cellular respiratory activity with various substrates was partly conserved and was totally inhibited by antimycin A. Their ubiquinol (QH2)-cytochrome c reductase/mole cytochrome b activity decreased by about 50%. Paradoxically their growth on respiratory substrate was abolished. Both mutants retained a high-affinity binding site for antimycin A, and exhibited a myxothiazol-resistance at the mitochondrial level. It seems likely that the mutated position (137), which belongs to the ubiquinol oxidizing domain of the bc1 complex, interferes, directly or indirectly, with the respiratory growth capacity of the cell.