Step-wise elimination of α-mitochondrial nucleoids and mitochondrial structure as a basis for the strict uniparental inheritance in Cryptococcus neoformans.

ABSTRACT: In most sexual eukaryotes, mitochondrial (mt) DNA is uniparentally inherited, although the detailed mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain controversial. The most widely accepted explanations include the autophagic elimination of paternal mitochondria in the fertilized eggs and the active degradation of paternal mitochondrial DNA. To decode the precise program for the uniparental inheritance, we focused on Cryptococcus neoformans as a model system, in which mtDNA is inherited only from the a-parent, although gametes of a- and α-cells are of equal size and contribute equal amounts of mtDNA to the zygote. In this research, the process of preferential elimination of the mitochondria contributed by the α-parent (α-mitochondria) was studied by fluorescence microscopy and single cell analy

SUBMITTER: Nishimura Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7016115 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature