The effect of genotype on pollen transmission of mitochondria in rapeseed (Brassica napus)

Summary

Crossing experiments were conducted to determine whether parental genotype affected the rate of transmission of paternal mitochondria to progeny in rapeseed (Brassica napus). Progeny were screened either by RFLP analysis of mitochondrial (mt) DNA or by means of a mt marker that causes male sterility. To date we have transferred paternal mitochondria to progeny in only cross, i.e. a specific female line crossed to a specific male line. The male line carries the polima cytoplasm, the mitochondria of which confer a characteristic malesterile flower morphology when in a napus nuclear background. This line is male fertile due to a restorer gene carried on an extra chromosome from a closely related species, Brassica juncea. The female line has a Brassica campestris cytoplasm with a chloroplast mutation conferring resistance to triazine herbicides. Progeny with mixtures of parental mtDNA display a range of plant phenotype from complete male fertility through varying proportions of male-sterile sectors to complete male sterility. The male sterility or fertility of flowers on a sector of a plant reflects the mt population of that sector, and such sectors will give rise to stably fertile or sterile progeny. These experiments suggest that maternal inheritance of mitochondria in higher plants is due to genes active in both the pollen parent and the egg parent.