pClK1 and pClT5—Two Linear Mitochondrial Plasmids from Unrelated Claviceps purpurea Strains: A Comparison

pClT5, a linear mitochondrial (mt) plasmid from Claviceps purpurea, strain T5, was sequenced and compared to pClK1, a linear mt plasmid from an unrelated C. purpurea strain. Both plasmids have terminal proteins (TPs) at their inverted terminal repeats (TIR). The TIRs of both plasmids show short conserved sequences, which are probably involved in plasmid transcription and replication. The coding capacity of pClT5 and pClK1 is similar; there are two large ORFs (ORF1 and ORF2) homologous to the DNA and RNA polymerase ORFs of pClK1 and several small hydrophobic ORFs ORF3 shows homology to a small ORF of the Neurospora crassa mt plasmid maranhar and is transcribed. ORF6 of pClT5 is homologous to ORF4 of pClK1: both are transcribed and are possible candidates for the TP encoding ORF.