The gene responsible for Friedreich's ataxia, a disease characterized by neurodegeneration and cardiomyopathy, has recently been cloned and its product designated frataxin. A gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae was characterized whose predicted protein product has high sequence similarity to the human frataxin protein. The yeast gene (yeast frataxin homolog, YFH1) encodes a mitochondrial protein involved in iron homeostasis and respiratory function. Human frataxin also was shown to be a mitochondrial protein. Characterizing the mechanism by which YFH1 regulates iron homeostasis in yeast may help to define the pathologic process leading to cell damage in Friedreich's ataxia.