We have cloned a cDNA coding for subunit VIII of the ubiquinol-cytochrome-c oxidoreductase of Schizosaccharomyces pombe by functional complementation of the null mutant in the QCR8 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. DNA sequence analysis reveals an open-reading frame of 276 bp encoding a 10.5 kDa protein with 51% amino acid sequence identity to its counterpart in S. cerevisiae.