Maternal Inheritance and Maternal Effects

Variegation in four o'clock plant and maternal inheritance

• Experiments were performed by Correns on the four o'clock plant
• The plant has green, variegated (white and green) or white leaves
• Normal flowers develop at different locations on the plant
• Crosses were made among the flowers associated with each leaf color (results in table below)

Female	Male	Progeny Phenotype
Green	Green, variegated or white	Green
Variegated	Green, variegated or white	Variegated
White	Green, variegated or white	White

Results

• The progeny cross always exhibited the color of the leaf of the female
• Trait expresses maternal inheritance

Maternal inheritance - the female phenotype in a cross is always expressed in its offspring

Explanation

• Is a result of the expression of a gene found in the genome of an organelle
• For most species, all of the organelle DNA that is found in an embryo is from the female.
• This is the biological basis of maternal inheritance.