Maternal Inheritance and Maternal

Effects

Variegation in four o'clock plant and

maternal inheritance

The classic study of maternal inheritance was performed by

Correns on the four o'clock plant. This plant can have either
green, variegated (white and green) or white leaves. Flower
structures can develop at different locations on the plant and
the flower color corresponds to the leaf color. When Correns
crossed the different colored flowers from different locations
on the female plant with pollen obtained from flowers of the
three different colors, the progeny that resulted from the cross
always exhibited the color of the leaf of the female. That is,
regardless of whether the pollen was from a leaf that was
green, variegated or white. If the female flower came from a
region where the leaves where green, all the progeny were
green. Similar results were seen when the female was from a
region on the plant where the leaves were either variegated or
white. In comparison to traits controlled by maternal effects,
those traits controlled by maternal inheritance, the female
phenotype is always expressed in its offspring.

Female Male Progeny Phenotype

Green Green, Variegated or White Green

Variegated Green, Variegated or White Variegated

White Green, Variegated or White White

The results can be explained in the following manner. All of

the organelle DNA that is found in an embryo is from the
female. The egg cell is many times larger than the pollen
cells, and contain both mitochondria and chloroplasts. Pollen
is small and is essentially devoid of organelles, and thus
organelle DNA. So any trait that is encoded by the organelle
DNA will be contributed by the female. In the case of the four
o'clock plant, the different colors of the leaves is a result of
the presence or absence of chlorophyll in the chloroplast, a
trait that can be controlled by the chloroplast DNA. Thus,
green shoots contain chloroplasts that have chlorophyll, the
chloroplasts in the white shoots contain no chlorophyll, and
the variegated shoots contain some chloroplasts with
chlorophyll and some without chlorophyll. Thus, depending
upon the location in the plant where the flower comes from,
the egg can have chloroplast with chlorophyll, without
chlorophyll or a mixture of the two types of chloroplasts. This
is the biological basis of maternal inheritance.

Copyright © 1997. Phillip McClean