The Sexual Inheritance of Plant Organelles

In plants three modes of inheritance (transmission) of plasmatic organelles - plastids and mitochondria -- are found: (1) uniparental maternal, (2) biparental and (3) uniparental paternal organelle inheritance. The numerical proportion of these three modes of inheritance is very different in various taxa of angiosperms, gymnosperms, yeasts and algae. Regarding the plastids, the majority of angiosperms exhibit the maternal mode, whereas in gymnosperms the paternal or the biparental modes are prevailing. In Chlamydomonas a maternal inheritance (via the mt⁺ parent) is the rule, but the biparental mode is an important exception, the frequency of which can intensely be increased experimentally. All three modes are found within all groups of higher taxa. Regarding the mitochondria the three modes of organelle inheritance are found in varying frequencies among different taxa. The different kinds of experimental procedures are characterized. The determination what mode of organelle inheritance is found in a particular species needs careful observations and experimental studies.