Mitochondrial Inheritance from Fathers and Mothers

[cwhenderson (Curtis Henderson)]

I stumbled across an article this morning that might add an interesting twist to the conversation.

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/11/21/1810946115

I haven’t yet read it, but here is a comment from the abstract:

Our results suggest that, although the central dogma of maternal inheritance of mtDNA remains valid, there are some exceptional cases where paternal mtDNA could be passed to the offspring.

[jongarvey]

We’re looking at Mito-Kev, then?

[swamidass (S. Joshua Swamidass)]

@cwhenderson

I haven’t yet read it, but here is a comment from the abstract:

Our results suggest that, although the central dogma of maternal inheritance of mtDNA remains valid, there are some exceptional cases where paternal mtDNA could be passed to the offspring.

Rare paternal inheritance of mitochondria is fairly well known. Remember my rule of thumb about biology:

@swamidass

One of the first and most helpful things I learned is:

1. There are rules in biology.
2. There are exceptions to every rule in biology.
3. The exceptions are important.

This is one of the exceptions to the rule. I think the real contribution is that they have uncovered several examples, and that it spans multiple generations. This suggests that, at times, it is an inherited ability for mitochondria to pass from fathers. Knowing this, they might be able to untangle some of the mechanisms why, and I have a few hypothesis I’m hoping they have tested.

Great find @cwhenderson.

[John_Harshman]

Let’s also not forget that in Mytilus, paternal inheritance of mitochondria is the norm: males inherit their fathers’ mitochondria while females inherit their mothers’.

[davecarlson]

In evening primroses, the group of plants I work on, biparental inheritance of organelles (especially plastids) occurs with some regularity. There’s some information about it here.