Question

What is mitochondrial inheritance?

Answer 1

Mitochondrial inheritance results from the expression of mitochondrial DNA, does not follow the Mendelian pattern as it involves mitochondrial gene expression that does not follow Mendelian laws.

Mitochondrial diseases that arise from defective mitochondrial DNA are of maternal origin.

The mitochondrion has its own DNA i.e.mtDNA. Mitochondria play essential roles in:

- energy production
- various cellular processes such as metabolism and signal transduction.

In mitochondrial inheritance,after fertilization sperm-derived paternal mitochondria enter the oocyte cytoplasm but their mtDNA never transmitted to the offspring. So this pattern of mtDNA inheritance also known as “maternal inheritance.”