Presence of a chloroplast-like elongator tRNAMet gene in the mitochondrial genomes of soybean and Arabidopsis thaliana.

The nucleotide sequence of elongator tRNA(Met) genes from soybean chloroplast and mitochondria and Arabidopsis thaliana mitochondria have been determined. The mitochondrial tRNA(Met) genes from soybean and A. thaliana are identical, and they differ from the soybean chloroplast tRNA(Met) gene by only four nucleotides. Analysis of the flanking regions indicates that the mitochondrial tRNA(Met) gene is not present on a large chloroplast DNA insertion in the mitochondrial genome, but it suggests that they have a common origin. Comparison of the three genes and the evolutionary implications are discussed.