Evolutionary genetics. Clonal inheritance of avian mitochondrial DNA.
We have taken a new approach to test the commonly accepted, but recently questioned, principle of clonal inheritance of vertebrate mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) by relating its inheritance to a female-specific marker of nuclear DNA. Whereas this is impossible in organisms with male heterogamy (such as mammals), we show here that genealogies of mtDNA and the female-specific W chromosome of a bird species are completely concordant. Our results indicate that inheritance of mtDNA is free of detectable recombination effects over an evolutionary timescale.
Berlin
S
S
Department of Evolutionary Biology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, SE-752 36, Uppsala, Sweden.
Ellegren
H
H
D000818:Animals; D002875:Chromosomes; D002999:Clone Cells; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005111:Extrachromosomal Inheritance; D005260:Female; D006239:Haplotypes; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D020304:Raptors / Q000235:genetics*; D011995:Recombination, Genetic
D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial