Isolation and Characterization of the sod2$^{2+}$ Gene Encoding a Putative Mitochondrial Manganese Superoxide Dismutase in Schizosaccharomyces bombe

The fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe contains two distinct superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities, one in the cytosol encoded by the $sod2^{+}$ gene and the other in mitochondria. The $sod2^{+}$ gene encoding putative mitochondrial manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) was isolated from the S. pombe genomic library using a PCR fragment as the probe. The nucleotide sequence of the $sod2^{+}$ gene and its flanking region (4051 bp HindIII fragment) was determined. An intron of 123 nt in size was predicted and confirmed by sequencing the cDNA following reverse transcription PCR. The predicted Sod2p consists of 218 amino acid residues with a molecular mass of 24,346 Da. The deduced amino acid sequence showed a high degree of homology with other MnSODs, especially in the metal binding residues at the active site and their relative positions. The transcriptional start site was mapped by primer extension at 231 at upstream from the ATG codon. A putative TATA box(TATAAAA) was located 58 nt upstream from the transcriptional start site and putative polyadenylation sites were located at 1000, 1062, and 1074 nt downstream from the ATG start codon.