The cytochrome oxidase subunit III gene in sunflower mitochondria is cotranscribed with an open reading frame conserved in higher plants.

The gene encoding subunit III of cytochrome oxidase (COXIII) has been identified in the sunflower mitochondrial genome. The COXIII coding region is located 570 bp downstream of a 477 bp open reading frame (ORFB). Sequence comparisons and hybridization experiments show that ORFB sequences are conserved in other plant mitochondrial genomes. Nucleotide and amino acid sequence comparisons suggest that RNA editing is required in sunflower mitochondria to synthesize a functional COXIII polypeptide.