Analysis of paternal transmission of mitochondrial DNA in Drosophila

Abstract

It has previously been shown that paternal mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) can be detected in later generations in Drosophila. To further analyze the paternal transmission of mtDNA, the progeny of two intraspecific and three interspecific crosses were examined in the frequency of the paternal transmission of mtDNA, using closely related species of the melanogaster species subgroup. Types of mtDNA in the progeny of the individual backcrosses of F 1 females were analyzed by selective amplification of paternal mtDNA. More than 100 F 1 females were examined for each backcross. The same type of mtDNA as that of the paternal mtDNA was detected in approximately 20 -60% of the backcrosses. The present results indicate that paternal leakage occurs in the intraspecific crosses as well as in the interspecific crosses in Drosophila.

Paternal transmission of mitochondrial DNA as an integral part of mitochondrial inheritance in metapopulations of Drosophila simulans

“…The pair specificity of observed paternal leakage in our experiments is in line with previous studies (Kondo et al, 1990;Kondo et al, 1992;Sherengul et al, 2006). These studies, however, reveal paternal leakage at frequencies as high as 0.86 per line, a finding most likely attributable to the utilization of interspecific or backcrossed fly lines, crossing regimes believed to promote paternal leakage (Kaneda et al, 1995;Sutovsky et al, 2000;White et al, 2008).…”

“…simulans is an ideal model in which to investigate the mechanism of mitochondrial inheritance because of the recurrence and persistence of mtDNA heteroplasmy and because paternal leakage has previously been documented in this species (Kondo et al, 1990(Kondo et al, , 1992Sherengul et al, 2006). The occurrence of two distinct haplotypes within East African populations facilitates the detection of paternal leakage and heteroplasmy which in other models may remain unnoticed due to missing or lesser haplotypic variety.…”

“…The occurrence of two distinct haplotypes within East African populations facilitates the detection of paternal leakage and heteroplasmy which in other models may remain unnoticed due to missing or lesser haplotypic variety. In contrast to our experimental approach, earlier studies were greatly influenced by backcrossing and hybridization, breeding regimes hypothesized to promote paternal leakage in insects and mammals (Kaneda et al, 1995;Sutovsky et al, 2000;Sherengul et al, 2006). Conducting single fly matings and subsequent haplotyping of the F1 generation without the confounding factors of backcrossing and hybridization, we aimed to provide direct evidence for paternal leakage as potential cause for observed heteroplasmy in natural populations of D. simulans.…”

Lost in the zygote: the dilution of paternal mtDNA upon fertilization

“…Both events have been documented to occur in mammals (Gyllensten et al, 1991;Schwartz and Vissing, 2002;Ladoukakis and Eyre-Walker, 2004;Zhao et al, 2004), birds (Kvist et al, 2003), fish (Magoulas and Zouros, 1993;Guo et al, 2006;Ciborowski et al, 2007), mollusks (Ladoukakis and Zouros, 2001), amphibians (Ujvari et al, 2007), arthropods (Meusel and Moritz, 1993;Gantenbein et al, 2005;Arunkumar et al, 2006;Sherengul et al, 2006;Fontaine et al, 2007) and nematodes (Lunt and Hyman, 1997;Armstrong et al, 2007). What is more, gender-associated and tissue-specific transmission of both paternal and maternal mtDNA ('doubly uniparental inheritance' (DUI)) appears to be the norm in some bivalves (Breton et al, 2007).…”

Delimiting the Frequency of Paternal Leakage of Mitochondrial DNA in Chinook Salmon

“…Previous studies estimating the frequency of paternal leakage were greatly influenced by inbreeding and backcrossing (Kondo et al 1990;Gyllensten et al 1991;Shitara et al 1998;Sherengul et al 2006), crossing regimes that are assumed to promote paternal leakage (Kaneda et al 1995;Sutovsky et al 2000;Sherengul et al 2006). Other studies detected paternal leakage but neglected to estimate how frequently this might occur (Meusel and Moritz 1993;Kvist et al 2003;Gantenbein et al 2005;Fontaine et al 2007).…”