Genetics, Vol 126, 657-663, Copyright © 1990

INVESTIGATIONS

Incomplete Maternal Transmission of Mitochondrial DNA in Drosophila

R. Kondo, Y. Satta, E. T. Matsuura, H. Ishiwa, N. Takahata and S. I. Chigusa
Department of Biology, Ochanomizu University, 2-1-1 Otsuka, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112, Japan

The possibility of incomplete maternal transmission of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in Drosophila, previously suggested by the presence of heteroplasmy, was examined by intra- and interspecific backcrosses of Drosophila simulans and its closest relative, Drosophila mauritiana. mtDNAs of offspring in these crosses were characterized by Southern hybridization with two {alpha}-(32)P-labeled probes that are specific to paternal mtDNAs. This method could detect as little as 0.03% paternal mtDNA, if present, in a sample. Among 331 lines that had been backcrossed for ten generations, four lines from the interspecific cross D. simulans (female) X D. mauritiana (male) showed clear evidence for paternal leakage of mtDNA. In three of these the maternal type was completely replaced while the fourth was heteroplasmic. Since in this experiment the total number of fertilization is known to be 331 X 10 = 3310, the proportion of paternal mtDNA per fertilization was estimated as about 0.1%. The mechanisms and evolutionary significance for paternal leakage are discussed in light of this finding.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. N. Wolff, S. Gandre, A. Kalinin, and N. J. Gemmell Delimiting the Frequency of Paternal Leakage of Mitochondrial DNA in Chinook Salmon Genetics, June 1, 2008; 179(2): 1029 - 1032. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E.C. Spikings, J. Alderson, and J.C.St. John Transmission of mitochondrial DNA following assisted reproduction and nuclear transfer Hum. Reprod. Update, July 1, 2006; 12(4): 401 - 415. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				X. Guo, S. Liu, and Y. Liu Evidence for Recombination of Mitochondrial DNA in Triploid Crucian Carp Genetics, March 1, 2006; 172(3): 1745 - 1749. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Kohl, I. Paulsen, T. Laubach, A. Radtke, and A. von Haeseler HvrBase++: a phylogenetic database for primate species Nucleic Acids Res., January 1, 2006; 34(suppl_1): D700 - D704. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. Roze, F. Rousset, and Y. Michalakis Germline Bottlenecks, Biparental Inheritance and Selection on Mitochondrial Variants: A Two-Level Selection Model Genetics, July 1, 2005; 170(3): 1385 - 1399. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. Piganeau, M. Gardner, and A. Eyre-Walker A Broad Survey of Recombination in Animal Mitochondria Mol. Biol. Evol., December 1, 2004; 21(12): 2319 - 2325. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. Cao, E. Kenchington, and E. Zouros Differential Segregation Patterns of Sperm Mitochondria in Embryos of the Blue Mussel (Mytilus edulis) Genetics, February 1, 2004; 166(2): 883 - 894. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. D. Dean, K. J. Ballard, A. Glass, and J. W. O. Ballard Influence of Two Wolbachia Strains on Population Structure of East African Drosophila simulans Genetics, December 1, 2003; 165(4): 1959 - 1969. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Y. Moriyama and S. Kawano Rapid, Selective Digestion of Mitochondrial DNA in Accordance With the matA Hierarchy of Multiallelic Mating Types in the Mitochondrial Inheritance of Physarum polycephalum Genetics, July 1, 2003; 164(3): 963 - 975. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. Kvist, J. Martens, A. A. Nazarenko, and M. Orell Paternal Leakage of Mitochondrial DNA in the Great Tit (Parus major) Mol. Biol. Evol., February 1, 2003; 20(2): 243 - 247. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. B. Hamilton and J. R. Miller Comparing Relative Rates of Pollen and Seed Gene Flow in the Island Model Using Nuclear and Organelle Measures of Population Structure Genetics, December 1, 2002; 162(4): 1897 - 1909. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				N. Hattori, K. Kitagawa, S. Takumi, and C. Nakamura Mitochondrial DNA Heteroplasmy in Wheat, Aegilops and Their Nucleus-Cytoplasm Hybrids Genetics, April 1, 2002; 160(4): 1619 - 1630. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. D. Ladoukakis and E. Zouros Recombination in Animal Mitochondrial DNA: Evidence from Published Sequences Mol. Biol. Evol., November 1, 2001; 18(11): 2127 - 2131. [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. M. Rand, A. G. Clark, and L. M. Kann Sexually Antagonistic Cytonuclear Fitness Interactions in Drosophila melanogaster Genetics, September 1, 2001; 159(1): 173 - 187. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. D. Ladoukakis and E. Zouros Direct Evidence for Homologous Recombination in Mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) Mitochondrial DNA Mol. Biol. Evol., July 1, 2001; 18(7): 1168 - 1175. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. K. Chesser Heteroplasmy and Organelle Gene Dynamics Genetics, November 1, 1998; 150(3): 1309 - 1327. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				B. J. Saville, Y. Kohli, and J. B. Anderson mtDNA recombination in a natural population PNAS, February 3, 1998; 95(3): 1331 - 1335. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. Shitara, J.-I. Hayashi, S. Takahama, H. Kaneda, and H. Yonekawa Maternal Inheritance of Mouse mtDNA in Interspecific Hybrids: Segregation of the Leaked Paternal mtDNA Followed by the Prevention of Subsequent Paternal Leakage Genetics, February 1, 1998; 148(2): 851 - 858. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				The Fate of Paternal Mitochondrial DNA in Developing Female Mussels, Mytilus edulis: Implications for the Mechanism of Doubly Uniparental Inheritance of Mitochondrial DNA Genetics, January 1, 1998; 148(1): 341 - 348.

				W. Hoeh, K. Blakley, and W. Brown Heteroplasmy suggests limited biparental inheritance of Mytilus mitochondrial DNA Science, March 22, 1991; 251(5000): 1488 - 1490. [Abstract] [PDF]