Abstract
The bryophytes are divided into three classes (mosses, liverworts and hornworts). Although the complete mitochondrial DNA sequence has been determined in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, in the moss Physcomitrella patens, only four genes (nad2, nad5, nad7, cox3) have been reported. To obtain DNA fragments, LA PCR was performed in over 100 different runs using primers designed for P. patens and M. polymorpha genes (cox1, cox2, nad1, nad3, nad4L, nad6, atp6, atp9). We obtained seven amplified products, which were subcloned into pBluescript vector and sequenced. The seven fragments were combined into two contigs, namely, about 30 kbp DNA region from cox1 to cox3 and about 20 kbp DNA region from cox2 to nad5, respectively. The number of introns and intron positions of identified genes were different to those in M. polymorpha, though their amino acid sequences were highly similar. We continue to determine the mitochondrial DNA sequence from P. patens.
