6/16/2021

Extranuclear Inheritance/ Cytoplasmic

inheritance
Maternal/non Mendelian Inheritance

Dr. Fariha Khan

BIO231
BSC208

Extranuclear inheritance
• Extranuclear inheritance or cytoplasmic inheritance is the
transmission of DNA that occur outside the nucleus.
• The DNA found to occur in cytoplasmic organelles such as
mitochondria and chloroplasts in eukaryotes
• DNA contained in mitochondria or chloroplasts determines the
phenotype of the offspring
• Infectious inheritance:
• The symbiotic or parasitic association of microorganism with a host
organism results in transmission of a phenotype in offspring of the
host.

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Eukaryotic organelle genomes

❑Mitochondrial Genome
❑Chloroplast Genome

▪ Mitochondria are the “power

plants” of the eukaryotic cell.
▪ Mitochondria are characterized
by an inner and outer
membrane.
▪ Components of the electron
transport chain are incorporated
into the inner membrane.
▪ The mitochondria are the source
of the citric acid (TCA or Krebs)
cycle, used to produce ATP from
energy sources.
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• Chloroplasts are the organelles

responsible for photosynthesis in
plants.
• Like mitochondria, chloroplasts are
membrane-bound organelles that
contain their own DNA.

Origin of Eukaryotic Organelle DNA

• The genomes in the mitochondria and chloroplasts of eukaryotic
cells have prokaryotic features.

Endosymbiont theory
• The endosymbiont theory holds that mitochondria and
chloroplasts are the remainders of free-living bacteria that formed
a symbiotic association with the precursor of the eukaryotic cell,
way back at the very earliest stages of evolution.

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Mitochondrial DNA
• Mitochondrial DNA is a double stranded circular molecule -16.6 kb size. 44%
(G+C), but the two mtDNA strands differ: the heavy (H) strand is rich in guanines,
but the light (L) strand is rich in cytosines.
▪ Similar to prokaryotic DNA
▪ There are no histones or any other protein associated with mt DNA.
▪ Intronless genes
▪ High gene density: 1 gene/0.45 kb,
▪ 93% coding; 66% protein coding DNA
▪ Exclusively Maternal inheritance
▪ A form of inheritance wherein the traits of the offspring are maternal in origin due to
the expression of extranuclear DNA present in the ovum during fertilization.

Mitochondrial genes
• Because mtDNA is in a highly oxidizing environment it has a much higher
rate of mutations than nuclear DNA.
• The genes in mtDNA code for mitochondrial ribosomes and transfer
RNAs.
• Some genes code for polypeptide subunits of the electron transport chain
common to all mitochondria
• 37 genes in total
• 24 genes are RNA coding
• 13 genes are protein coding
• Codon usage: 60 amino acid codons + four stop codons

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Eukaryotic organelle genomes

The human mitochondrial genome is
small and compact, with little wasted
space—so much so that the ATP6 and
ATP8 genes overlap.
Abbreviations:
ATP6, ATP8, genes for ATPase subunits 6
and 8; COI, COII, COIII, genes for
cytochrome c oxidase subunits I, II, and
III; Cytb, gene for apocytochrome b; ND1–
ND6, genes for NADH dehydrogenase
subunits 1–6.

Human mitochondrial genome (mtDNA)

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Chloroplast Genome (cpDNA)

• Multiple circular molecules present in chloroplast
• Most being 100–200 kb in size
• Similar set of some 200 genes,
• The majority coding for rRNAs and tRNAs, as well as
ribosomal proteins and proteins involved in
photosynthesis
• Similar to mtDNA in structure and organization

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Rice chloroplast genome

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Non-nuclear DNA Inheritance

• Here are some ways that mitochondrial and chloroplast DNA differ from
the DNA found in the nucleus:
• High copy number
A mitochondrion or chloroplast has multiple copies of its DNA, and a
typical cell has many mitochondria (and, in the case of a plant cell,
chloroplasts). As a result, cells usually have many copies – often
thousands – of mitochondrial and chloroplast DNA.

• Random segregation
Mitochondria and chloroplasts (and the genes they carry) are randomly
distributed to daughter cells during mitosis and meiosis. When the cell
divides, the organelles that happen to be on opposite sides of the
cleavage furrow or cell plate will end up in different daughter cell

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Contd…..
• Single-parent inheritance (Uniparental inheritance).
Non-nuclear DNA is often inherited uniparentally, meaning that
offspring get DNA only from the one parent, not both. In humans,
for example, children get mitochondrial DNA from their mother
(but not their father).
➢Matrilineal inheritance-Inheritance of mitochondrial DNA
occurs exclusively through the mother

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Mitochrondrial Inheritance Pattern

• Mitochrondrial DNA have high mutation load.
• Mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are a significant cause of
human genetic disorders.
• Tissues that have a high energy requirement—such as muscle and brain—
are primarily affected in mtDNA determined disorders.
• Heteroplasmy-cells with a mixed population of normal and mutant
mtDNAs
• The clinical features depend on the proportion of mutant to normal
mtDNA molecules in the cells of tissues with high energy requirements

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➢ Because mitochondria are

inherited from a person's
mother, they provide a way
to trace matrilineal ancestry
(line of descent through an
unbroken chain of female
ancestors).

As shown in the diagram above, the inheritance

pattern of mitochondrial DNA is different from
that of nuclear DNA. A person's nuclear DNA is a
"patchwork" of segments inherited from many
different ancestors, while a person's mitochondrial
DNA is inherited through a single, unbroken line of
16female ancestors

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Transmission of Mitochondrial inherited Condition

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