DELAYED CHROMOSOMAL AND EXTRACHROMOSOMAL INHERITANCE

Jadeline M. Palos
Delayed Chromosomal Inheritance
 Characteristics showing delayed inheritan
ce still conform with the principles of c
hromosomal genetics but are sidetracked b
y the ties of the parent.

 The ties are usually between the maternal

parent and the offspring.
Delayed Chromosomal Inheritance

 Such maternal inheritance results from 2

important features of the egg but not the
sperm the orientation of the mitotic spin
dle axis
 the high cytoplasmic continuity between t
he egg and the oocyte with very little or
no contribution from the sperm
Delayed Chromosomal Inheritance
 Caspari found in 1948 an example of Matern
al influence in the flour moth.
 The colors of the larval skin and eye of t
his moth are controlled by the gene A, wh
ere A is pigmented and a is not pigmented.
 The allele A, controls the production of k
ynurenin, involved in pigment synthesis wh
ile, a does not elaborate kynurenin.
Delayed Chromosomal Inheritance

 aa female mated with Aa male

a a

A Aa Aa Pigmented
a aa aa
Non pigmented
Delayed Chromosomal Inheritance

aa female mated with Aa male

A a

a Aa aa

a Aa aa

Pigmented Pigmented
 Delayed Chromosomal Inheritance

 The aa individuals cannot elaborate kynur

enin since they lack the allele A.
 However these aa individuals developed pi
gments as larvae in their skin and eyes.
 The pigment fades and disappear as they g
row older
 These results are explained by the fact t
he Aa mother includes in her eggs some of
the A hormones elaborated in her own body
 Delayed Chromosomal Inheritance

 These substance present by maternal in

fluence on the a, as well as in the A
eggs, enables the aa offspring to deve
lop some pigment.
 But the aa individuals, being unable t
o elaborate a continuing supply of the
hormone themselves, dilute and use up
supply that was transmitted by the mot
her, the effect therefore is transient
 Delayed Chromosomal Inheritance
E. Boycott (1920s)
First to study an example of maternal eff
ect
 Involved morphological features of water
snail
Limnea peregra
Shell and internal organs can be either r
ight- or left-handed
• Dextral or sinistral, respectively
• Determined by cleavage pattern of egg after fert
ilization
• Dextral orientation is more common and dominant
Delayed Chromosomal Inheritance

E. Boycott (1920s)

 Began with two different true-breedin

g strains one dextral, one sinistral
 Dextral ♀ x sinistral ♂ - dextral of
fspring
 Reciprocal cross - sinistral offspring
 Contradict a Mendelian pattern of inhe
ritance
Delayed Chromosomal Inheritance

E. Boycott (1920s); Alfred Sturtevant(1923)

 Sturtevant proposed that Boycott’s results

could be explained by a maternal effect gene
 Conclusions drawn from F2 and F3 Generations
 Dextral (D) is dominant to sinistral (d )
 Phenotype of offspring is determined by geno
type of mother
Extrachromosomal Inheritance
Some maternal inheritance indicates cytop
lasmic influence which is independent of
the nucleus.
But this is not self perpetuating and dis
appears in the subsequent generations.
Plasmids / Plasmagenes / cytogens or plas
mons however are capable of self perpetua
tion and independent transmission and may
therefore be considered as genetic units
fully equal to those in the chromosomes.
Extrachromosomal Inheritance
 Extrachromosomal inheritance or inheri
tance through plasmids tends to be mat
ernal because most of the zygotes cyto
plasm is derived from the egg.
 Therefore reciprocal crosses give diff
erent results, a situation similar to
delayed chromosomal inheritance
Extrachromosomal Inheritance
 Cytoplasmic Inheritance
 Cytoplasmic Particles
 Chloroplast
 Mitochondria
Cytoplasmic Inheritance
 In Chlamydomonas ( a single celled gre
en alga) for example, streptomycin res
istance(sr) or sensitivity (ss) appear
s to be inherited in a regular Mendeli
an fashion so that sr x ss produces ½
sr and ½ ss offspring.
 Cytoplasmic Inheritance

 One resistant strain, sr-500 acts dife

rently,
 If sr-500 is mt + and I ss is mt- all
offspring are sr
 However on a reciprocal cross ss mt- x
ss mt+ all offspring are ss.
 Cytoplasmic Inheritance
 Since such result cannot be explained
on the basis of chromosomal segregatio
n, in which 1 sr: 1 ss ratio is expect
ed, they area scribed to an extrachrom
osomal factor transmitted only through
the plus mating type.
 Cytoplasmic Particles
 Sonne born in 1943 studied the inherit
ance of the killer vs. sensitive trait
in paramecium aurelia.
 To be a killer, paramecium must have t
he gene K and a complement of cytoplas
mic particulate material called kappa.
 Sensitive animals are those that lacks
kappa.
 Genotype kk cannot produce kappa, only
the genotype KK and Kk can.
 Cytoplasmic Particles
For example: conjugation of killer (KK) and s
ensitive (kk) strains produces exconjugants,
with very little or no exchange of cytoplasm.

Separate killer and sensitive clones are prod

uced depending on the parent from whom they w
ere derived

Induces autogamy or self fertilization of the

killer exconjugant will produce the homozygot
es KK and kk which will give rise to killer a
nd sensitive clones respectively
 Cytoplasmic Inheritance
Autogamy of the sensitive exconju
gant gives rise to sensitive clon
es only, in spite of the segregat
ion of KK and kk.
 Chloroplast
The structure of this organelles, the pigmen
t contained and their enzymes systems can al
l be affected by mutations indicating that c
hloroplasts are not free from chromosomal ge
netic apparatus control.
Mature plastids arise from pro-plastids, whi
ch are capable of dividing and thereby incre
ase in number
Since plastids arise from pre-existing struc
tures they are capable of self replication.
Moreover, plastids are not transmitted along
chromosomal lines.
Example in four o'clock plant
Male parent Female parent Progeny
Pale Pale Pale
Green Green
Variegated Pale, green and
variegated
Green Pale Pale
Green Green
Variegated Pale, green and
variegated
Varieted Pale Pale
Green Green
Variegated Pale, green and
variegated
Extrachromosomal Inheritance
Extrachromosomal Inheritance
Extrachromosomal Inheritance

 Seeds from the pale plant would have only

the pale plastid type: those from green,
only green; those from variegated, either
pale, green or mixture of the two types.

 Neither the genotype of the male gametoph

yte nor the nuclear genetic constitution
of the fertilized egg would be involved i
n the control of this variation.
 Mitochondria
 In baker’s yeast, Saccharomyces cerev
isiae, Ephrussi and his co-workers wer
e able to identify in 1951 three petit
e varieties.
1. Segregational (nuclear) petites
2. Neutral Petites
3. Suppressive petites
 Mitochondria
 Segregational (nuclear) petites

When crossed with the wild type, produ

ceascospores which segregate in the rat
io 1petite : 1 normal. This petite char
acteristic ischromosomally determined t
rait
 Mitochondria
 Neutral petites
 when mated with normal strains, will p
roduce only normal or wild type ascosp
ores and colonies.
 In further generations, the petite cha
racteristic never reappears and seems
to have been lost
 This behavior indicates an extrachromo
somal inheritance
 Mitochondria
 Suppressive petites

Suppress normal respiratory behavior in

crosses with the normal strains so that
most of the diploid cells derived from
a zygote petites

 Suppressive factor therefore acts as a

dominant trait
 Mitochondria
The petite characteristic of yeast has been a
ttributed to the deficiencies of cytochromes
b, c and cytochrome oxidase a, a3 that are no
rmally found in the inner membrane of mitocho
ndria
The mitochondria also have their own DNA and
they have been known to divide or reproduce b
y themselves
This continuity of the mitochondria and the m
itochondrial DNA explains the cytoplasmic con
tinuity of the neutral and suppressive petite
s
REFERENCE
 www.scribd.com/presentation/94939793/Delayed-Chromoso
mal-and-Extrachromosomal-Inheritance