Heteroplasmy Is Rare in Plant Mitochondria Compared with Plastids despite Similar Mutation Rates.

ABSTRACT: Plant cells harbor two membrane-bound organelles containing their own genetic material-plastids and mitochondria. Although the two organelles coexist and coevolve within the same plant cells, they differ in genome copy number, intracellular organization, and mode of segregation. How these attributes affect the time to fixation or, conversely, loss of neutral alleles is currently unresolved. Here, we show that mitochondria and plastids share the same mutation rate, yet plastid alleles remain in a heteroplasmic state significantly longer compared with mitochondrial alleles. By analyzing genetic variants across populations of the marine flowering plant Zostera marina and simulating organelle allele dynamics, we examine the determinants of allele segregation and allele fixation. Our results su

SUBMITTER: Khachaturyan M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11245704 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature