Cytoplasmic inheritance and Maternal Effect

Description

This document summarizes cytoplasmic inheritance and maternal effect. It discusses how some character inheritance is governed by cytoplasmic or organelle genes rather than nuclear genes. It describes features of cytoplasmic inheritance like reciprocal differences and maternal effects. It also discusses genes located in mitochondria and chloroplasts, differences between nuclear and cytoplasmic inheritance, and the endosymbiont theory which suggests that mitochondria and chloroplasts originated as symbiotic prokaryotes. The maternal effect is explained as the phenomenon where the cytoplasm of the egg cell affects offspring phenotype.