The mechanism of maternal inheritance in Chlamydomonas: Biochemical and genetic studies.

The cytoplasmic linkage group of Chlamydomonas shows maternal inheritance, i.e. preferential transmission of cytogenes from the female (m t (+)) parent and loss of the corresponding male (m t (-)) genome in sexual crosses. The mechanism of this process is postulated to be enzymatic modification of chloroplast DNA of the female to protect it from a restriction enzyme which degrades the chloroplast DNA of the male parent in the zygote soon after fusion. Genetic, biochemical and physical data bearing on this hypothesis are summarized and discussed.