Protein splicing converts the yeast TFP1 gene product to the 69-kD subunit of the vacuolar H⁺-adenosine triphosphatase

The TFP1 gene of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes two proteins: the 69-kilodalton (kD) catalytic subunit of the vacuolar proton-translocating adenosine triphosphatase (H⁺-ATPase) and a 50-kD protein. The 69-kD subunit is encoded by the 5′ and 3′ thirds of the TFP1 coding region, whereas the 50-kD protein is encoded by the central third. Evidence is presented that both the 69-kD and 50-kD proteins are obtained from a single translation product that is cleaved to release the 50-kD protein and spliced to form the 69-kD subunit.