Question

Briefly compare and contrast maternal effect and maternal organelle inheritance.

Answer 1

Maternal effect is the phenomena where the nuclear genotype of a mother is expressed in the phenotype of offspring, analtered by the paternal genetic influence.

However, the female cytoplasm also contributes the mitochondria for all species as well as the chloroplast for plant species. These two organelles contain DNA and control certain traits in the offspring. Those phenotypes controlled by organelle genes exhibit maternal organelle inheritance.

So the basic difference between maternal effect and maternal inheritance is:

Maternal inheritance occurs when the hereditary determinants of a trait are extranuclear and genetic transmission is only through maternal cytoplasm.

Where as maternal effect occurs when the nuclear genotype of the mother determines the phenotype of a progeny. In maternal effect, the hereditary determinants are nuclear genes transmitted by both sexes.

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