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Mitochondrial inheritance in Aspergillus nidulans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2009

Alex Coenen ,
Jim H. Croft ,
Marijke Slakhorst ,
Fons Debets  and
Rolf Hoekstra
Alex Coenen*
Affiliation:
Department of Genetics, Agricultural University, Dreyenlaan 2, 6703 HA Wageningen, The Netherlands
Jim H. Croft
Affiliation:
School of Biological Science, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England
Marijke Slakhorst
Affiliation:
Department of Genetics, Agricultural University, Dreyenlaan 2, 6703 HA Wageningen, The Netherlands
Fons Debets
Affiliation:
Department of Genetics, Agricultural University, Dreyenlaan 2, 6703 HA Wageningen, The Netherlands
Rolf Hoekstra
Affiliation:
Department of Genetics, Agricultural University, Dreyenlaan 2, 6703 HA Wageningen, The Netherlands
*
*E-mail: Alex Coenen@[email protected], Fax: + 31.8370.83146.
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Mitochondrial chloramphenicol and oligomycin resistance mutations were used to investigate mitochondrial inheritance in A. nidulans. Mitochondrial RFLPs could not be used to distinguish between paternal and maternal mitochondria because none were detected in the 54 isolates investigated. Several thousand ascospores from each of 111 hybrid cleistothecia from 21 different crosses between 7 heterokaryon incompatible isolates were tested for biparental inheritance. All mitochondrial inheritance was strictly uniparental. Not one instance of paternal inheritance of mitochondria was observed. The implications of our results for the theory that uniparental inheritance evolved to avoid cytoplasmic conflictare discussed. Possible explanations for the maintenance of strict uniparental inheritance of mitochondria in an inbreeding homothallic organism are suggested. The chloramphenicol resistance marker was inherited preferentially to the oligomycin resistance marker probably due to the inhibited energy production of mitochondria with the oligomycin resistance mutation. The maternal parent was determined for 93 hybrid cleistothecia from 17 crosses between 7 different strains. Contraryto previous reports A. nidulans strains functioned as both maternal and paternal parent in most crosses.

Type
Research Article
Information
Genetics Research , Volume 67 , Issue 2 , April 1996 , pp. 93 - 100
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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