The 24-kDa subunit of mitochondrial NADH-ubiquinone reductase (complex I) is an iron-sulfur protein that is present in the flavoprotein or NADH dehydrogenase II subcomplex. It is a nuclear gene product and is imported into the organelle. A group of human patients with mitochondrial myopathy have been shown to have reduced levels of subunits of complex I in skeletal muscle mitochondria, and in one patient the 24-kDa subunit appears to be absent (Schapira et al., 1988). To investigate the genetic basis of this type of myopathy, cDNA clones have been isolated from a bovine library derived from heart and liver mRNA by hybridization with two mixtures of 48 synthetic oligonucleotides 17 bases in length that were designed on the basis of known protein sequences. The recombinant DNA sequence has been determined, and it encodes a precursor of the mature 24-kDa protein. The N terminus of the mature protein is preceded by a presequence of 32 amino acids that has properties that are characteristic of mitochondrial import sequences. The sequence of the mature protein deduced from the cDNA contains a segment of nine amino acids that was not determined in an earlier partial protein sequence analysis. The bovine clone has been employed as a hybridization probe to identify cDNA clones of the human homologue of the 24-kDa protein. Its DNA sequence has also been determined, and it codes for a protein that is closely related to the bovine protein.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)