Abstract
BackgroundA problem has remained unresolved regarding the exceptions to the unilateral inheritance of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) from MT+/female in Chlamydomonas and other volvocaleans demonstrated by the previous genetic analyses. For identification of the parental types of cpDNA, these studies used parents that have differences in restriction fragment length polymorphisms and exhibit partial sexual incompatibility.Methodology/Principal FindingsIn the present study, we used sexually compatible parents of the isogamous colonial volvocalean Gonium maiaprilis that seemed an ideal species to identify the pattern of cpDNA inheritance based on the length difference in the putative group I intron interrupted in the Rubisco large subunit gene and objective identification of mating types by the presence or absence of the minus-dominance (MID) gene. We examined patterns of inheritance of cpDNA and presence/absence of a MID ortholog (GmMID) in 107 F1 progeny of G. maiaprilis that were obtained by inducing germination of separated single zygotes. The results demonstrated no exception of the uniparental inheritance of cpDNA from the MT+ parent (lacking GmMID) in sexually compatible or genetically less divergent strains of G. maiaprilis.Conclusions/SignificanceThe present data suggest that the uniparental inheritance of cpDNA is likely more strict in crossings of less diverged strains or sexually compatible parental volvocaleans, and some genetic inconsistency between the parents may cause exceptional uniparental inheritance of cpDNA.
Highlights
Chloroplast DNA in the volvocalean algae is predominantly transmitted from only one of the two parental mating types to the progeny; from mating type plus (MT+) in the isogamous species Chlamydomonas reinhardtii [1] and Gonium pectorale [2] or from female in the oogamous Volvox carteri [3]
Studies of intra/interspecific crossings in mouse demonstrated that paternal mitochondrial DNA is selectively eliminated during early embryogenesis in intraspecific crossings, whereas 50% of paternal mtDNA are transmitted to progeny in interspecifc crossings [5,6]
Our preliminary comparison of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) sequences including a putative group I intron in the Rubisco large subunit genes indicated a difference in length of the introns among the G. maiaprilis strains
Summary
Chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) in the volvocalean algae is predominantly transmitted from only one of the two parental mating types to the progeny; from mating type plus (MT+) in the isogamous species Chlamydomonas reinhardtii [1] and Gonium pectorale [2] or from female in the oogamous Volvox carteri [3]. These studies showed that 2–8% of the F1 progeny have an exceptional pattern of uniparental inheritance of cpDNA (cpDNA) [1,2,3], i.e. they inherit cpDNA from the MT2/male. For identification of the parental types of cpDNA, these studies used parents that have differences in restriction fragment length polymorphisms and exhibit partial sexual incompatibility
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