Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Biparental inheritance of chloroplast DNA and the existence of heteroplasmic cells in alfalfa

  • Originals
  • Published:
Theoretical and Applied Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

Mapping of chloroplast DNA (ctDNA) restriction fragment patterns from a chlorophyll deficient mutant and two phenotypically normal alfalfa genotypes (Medicago sativa L.) has demonstrated the existence of a distinct ctDNA genotype from each source. These unique restriction fragment patterns were utilized to identify maternal or paternal origin of ctDNA in hybrid plants from crosses involving the normal alfalfa genotypes as females and the yellow-green chlorophyll deficient sectors as males. Progeny from these crosses expressing the yellow-green sectored phenotypes contained paternal ctDNA in the chlorophyll deficient sectors and maternal ctDNA in the normal sectors, confirming biparental plastid inheritance. The existence of mixed cells containing both mutant and normal plastids at various stages of sorting-out was observed by transmission electron microscopy of mesophyll cells in mosaic tissue from hybrid plants. This observation verified the biparental transmission of plastids in alfalfa.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Birnboim HC, Doly J (1979) A rapid alkaline extraction procedure for screening recombinant DNA. Nucleic Acids Res 7:1513–1515

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carroll TW, Mayhew DE (1976) Anther and pollen infection in relation to the pollen and seed transmissibility of two strains of barley stripe mosaic virus in barley. Can J Bot 54:1604–1621

    Google Scholar 

  • Conde MF, Pring DR, Levings CS III (1979) Maternal inheritance of organelle DNA's in Zea mays —Zea perennis reciprocal crosses. J Hered 70:2–4

    Google Scholar 

  • Hachtel W (1980) Maternal inheritance of chloroplast DNA in some Oenothera species. J Hered 71:191–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Hatfield PM, Shoemaker RC, Palmer RG (1985) Maternal inheritance of chloroplast DNA within the genus Glycine, subgenus soja. J Hered 76:373–374

    Google Scholar 

  • Kemble RJ (1987) A rapid, single leaf, nucleic acid assay for determining the cytoplasmic organelle complement of rapeseed and related Brassica species. Theor Appl Genet 73:364–370

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirk JTO, Tilney-Bassett REA (1978) The plastids. Their chemistry, structure, growth, and inheritance, 2nd edn. Freeman, London, pp 251–524

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee DJ, Blake TK, Smith SE, Bingham ET, Carroll TW (1988) Mapping the chloroplast genome of chlorophyll deficient mutants of alfalfa. Crop Sci (in press)

  • Maniatis T, Fritsch EF, Sambrook J (1982) Journal of molecular cloning. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

  • Medgyesy P, Pay A, Marton L (1986) Transmission of paternal chloroplasts in Nicotiana. Mol Gen Genet 204:195–198

    Google Scholar 

  • Metzlaff M, Borner T, Hagemann R (1981) Variations of chloroplasts DNAs in the genus Pelargonium and their biparental inheritance. Theor Appl Genet 60:37–41

    Google Scholar 

  • Palmer JD (1986) Isolation and structural analysis of chloroplast DNA. Methods Enzymol 118:167–186

    Google Scholar 

  • Pring DR, Conde MF, Schertz KF (1982) Organelle genome diversity in sorgham: male-sterile cytoplasms. Crop Sci 22:414–421

    Google Scholar 

  • Reed KC, Mann DA (1985) Rapid transfer of DNA from agarose gels to nylon membranes. Nucleic Acids Res 13:7207–7221

    Google Scholar 

  • Rigby PWJ, Dieckmann M, Rhodes C, Berg P (1977) Labeling deoxyribonucleic acid to high specific activity in vitro by nick translation with DNA polymerase I. J Mol Biol 113:237–241

    Google Scholar 

  • Saghai-Maroof MA, Soliman KA, Jorgensen RA, Allard RW (1984) Ribosomal DNA spacer length polymorphisms in barley: Mendelian inheritance, chromosomal location, and population dynamics. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 81:8014–8018

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schaffer HE, Sederoff RR (1981) Improved estimation of DNA fragment lengths from agarose gels. Anal Biochem 115:113–122

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith SE, Bingham ET, Fulton RW (1986) Transmission of chlorophyll deficiences in Medicago sativa. Evidence for biparental inheritance of plastids. J Hered 77:35–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Szmidt AE, Alden T, Hallgren J (1987) Paternal inheritance of chloroplast DNA in Larix. Plant Mol Biol 9:59–64

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant and Soil Science, Montana State University, 59715, Bozeman, MT, USA

    D. J. Lee & T. K. Blake

  2. Department of Plant Sciences, University of Arizona, 85721, Tucson, AZ, USA

    S. E. Smith

Authors
  1. D. J. Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. T. K. Blake
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. S. E. Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Communicated by R. Hagemann

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lee, D.J., Blake, T.K. & Smith, S.E. Biparental inheritance of chloroplast DNA and the existence of heteroplasmic cells in alfalfa. Theoret. Appl. Genetics 76, 545–549 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00260905

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00260905

Key words

Search

Navigation