Abstract
Organelle genomes of land plants are predominately inherited maternally but in some cases can also be transmitted paternally or biparentally. Compared to seed plants (>83% genera of angiosperms and >12% genera of gymnosperms), plastid genome (plastome) inheritance has only been investigated in fewer than 2% of fern genera, and mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) from only one fern genus. We developed a new and efficient method to examine plastome and mitogenome inheritance in a fern species—Deparia lancea (Athyriaceae, Aspleniineae, Polypodiales), and found that plastid and mitochondrial DNAs were transmitted from only the maternal parentage to a next generation. To further examine whether both organelle genomes have the same manner of inheritance in other Deparia ferns, we sequenced both plastid and mitochondrial DNA regions of inter-species hybrids, and performed phylogenetic analyses to identify the origins of organellar DNA. Evidence from our experiments and phylogenetic analyses support that both organelle genomes in Deparia are uniparentally and maternally inherited. Most importantly, our study provides the first report of mitogenome inheritance in eupolypod ferns, and the second one among all ferns.
Highlights
Unlike the strict maternal inheritance of mitochondrial genomes in animals, organelle inheritance in land plants are complex and variable
This study aims to broaden the understanding of organelle genome inheritance in ferns by exploring an additional and uninvestigated lineage—Deparia (Athyriaceae, Aspleniineae, Polypodiales)
We developed a new genetic experiment (Figures 1, 2) that can greatly facilitate the investigations on organelle inheritance in seed-free plants like ferns, which mostly produce small and hermaphroditic gametophytes, and are difficult to be manipulated in outcrossing experiments to trace organelle genome transmissions
Summary
Unlike the strict maternal inheritance of mitochondrial genomes in animals, organelle inheritance in land plants are complex and variable. In a few angiosperm taxa, cases of biparental inheritance of the mitogenome and paternal inheritance of the plastome were confirmed (Zhang and Sodmergen, 2010; Li et al, 2013; Mccauley, 2013; Choubey and Rajam, 2015). In gymnosperms, both organelles are maternally inherited in non-conifer lineages, including cycads, Ginkgo, and gnetophytes (Mogensen, 1996; Jansen and Ruhlman, 2012). For some conifers, paternal and biparental inheritance of the plastome, and paternal inheritance of the mitogenome was identified (Mogensen, 1996; Jansen and Ruhlman, 2012; Worth et al, 2014)
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