Answer to Question #185395 in Genetics for Angel

Question

What are the alleles for mitochondrial inhheritance? Why can a man inherit it from his mother but none of his own offspring can inherit it from him?

Answer 1

Allele 'A' and Allele 'B'

In sexual reproduction, mitochondria are normally inherited exclusively from the mother; the mitochondria in mammalian sperm are usually destroyed by the egg cell after fertilization.The fact that mitochondrial DNA is maternally inherited enables genealogical researchers to trace maternal lineage far back in time.