- THIS ARTICLE
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
-
All Versions of this Article:
genetics.104.036350v1
171/3/1387 most recent - Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- SERVICES
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Alert me to new issues of the journal
- Download to citation manager
- Reprints & Permissions
- CITING ARTICLES
- Citing Articles via HighWire
- Citing Articles via Google Scholar
- GOOGLE SCHOLAR
- Articles by Yamauchi, A.
- Search for Related Content
- PUBMED
- PubMed Citation
- Articles by Yamauchi, A.
Originally published as Genetics Published Articles Ahead of Print on August 3, 2005.
Genetics, Vol. 171, 1387-1396, November 2005, Copyright © 2005
doi:10.1534/genetics.104.036350
Rate of Gene Transfer From Mitochondria to Nucleus: Effects of Cytoplasmic Inheritance System and Intensity of Intracellular Competition
Atsushi Yamauchi1
Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, Hirano 2-509-3, Otsu 520-2113, Japan
1 Author e-mail: a-yama{at}ecology.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Endosymbiotic theory states that mitochondria originated as bacterial intracellular symbionts, the size of the mitochondrial genome gradually reducing over a long period owing to, among other things, gene transfer from the mitochondria to the nucleus. Such gene transfer was observed in more genes in animals than in plants, implying a higher transfer rate of animals. The evolution of gene transfer may have been affected by an intensity of intracellular competition among organelle strains and the organelle inheritance system of the organism concerned. This article reveals a relationship between those factors and the gene transfer rate from organelle to nuclear genomes, using a mathematical model. Mutant mitochondria that lose a certain gene by deletion are considered to replicate more rapidly than normal ones, resulting in an advantage in intracellular competition. If the competition is intense, heteroplasmic individuals possessing both types of mitochondria change to homoplasmic individuals including mutant mitochondria only, with high probability. According to the mathematical model, it was revealed that the rate of gene transfer from mitochondria to the nucleus can be affected by three factors, the intensity of intracellular competition, the probability of paternal organelle transmission, and the effective population size. The gene transfer rate tends to increase with decreasing intracellular competition, increasing paternal organelle transmission, and decreasing effective population size. Intense intracellular competition tends to suppress gene transfer because it is likely to exclude mutant mitochondria that lose the essential gene due to the production of lethal individuals.
Key Words: gene transfer • mitochondria • heteroplasmy • intracellular competition
This article has been cited by other articles:
 |
|
 |
|
  D. Wang, Y.-W. Wu, A. C.-C. Shih, C.-S. Wu, Y.-N. Wang, and S.-M. Chaw Transfer of Chloroplast Genomic DNA to Mitochondrial Genome Occurred At Least 300 MYA Mol. Biol. Evol., September 1, 2007; 24(9): 2040 - 2048. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. K. Behura Analysis of Nuclear Copies of Mitochondrial Sequences in Honeybee (Apis mellifera) Genome Mol. Biol. Evol., July 1, 2007; 24(7): 1492 - 1505. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|