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Replication and preferential inheritance of hypersuppressive petite mitochondrial DNA
Author(s) -
MacAlpine David M.,
Kolesar Jill,
Okamoto Koji,
Butow Ronald A.,
Perlman Philip S.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1093/emboj/20.7.1807
Subject(s) - biology , mitochondrial dna , genetics , inheritance (genetic algorithm) , replication (statistics) , dna replication , dna , evolutionary biology , gene , virology
Wild‐type yeast mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is inherited biparentally, whereas mtDNA of hypersuppressive petite mutants is inherited uniparentally in crosses to strains with wild‐type mtDNA. Genomes of hypersuppressive petites contain a conserved ori sequence that includes a promoter, but it is unclear whether the ori confers a segregation or replication advantage. Fluorescent in situ hybridization analysis of wild‐type and petite mtDNAs in crosses reveals no preferential segregation of hypersuppressive petite mtDNA to first zygotic buds. We identify single‐stranded DNA circles and RNA‐primed DNA replication intermediates in hypersuppressive petite mtDNA that are absent from non‐hypersuppressive petites. Mutating the promoter blocks hypersuppressiveness in crosses to wild‐type strains and eliminates the distinctive replication intermediates. We propose that promoter‐dependent RNA‐primed replication accounts for the uniparental inheritance of hypersuppressive petite mtDNA.