The distribution of male-transmitted and female-transmitted mitochondrial DNA types in somatic tissues of blue mussels: Implications for the operation of doubly uniparental inheritance of mitochondrial DNA

Abstract

We have examined the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content of several somatic tissues from male and female individuals of the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis. As expected from the mode of doubly uniparental inheritance (DUI) of mtDNA that is characteristic of this genus, the dominant type of mtDNA in male gonads was the male-transmitted M type. In contrast, all male somatic tissues were dominated by the female-transmitted F type. The M type could occasionally be detected in one or another tissue of a few female individuals. The findings have several implications for the operation of doubly uniparental inheritance of mitochondrial DNA, among which the most important are (i) the M genome does not have an unconditional replicative advantage over the F genome, and (ii) in contrast to "masculinization" (the process by which an F molecule assumes the role of the M genome) "feminization" (the process by which an M molecule assumes the role of the F genome) might be a rare but not impossible phenomenon.Key words: mitochondrial DNA inheritance, mitochondrial DNA tissue distribution, blue mussels, gender-specific mtDNA, doubly uniparental inheritance of mtDNA, Mytilus.