Pursuing the quest for better understanding the taxonomic distribution of the system of doubly uniparental inheritance of mtDNA

Abstract

There is only one exception to strict maternal inheritance of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in the animal kingdom: a system named doubly uniparental inheritance (DUI), which is found in several bivalve species. Why and how such a radically different system of mitochondrial transmission evolved in bivalve remains obscure. Obtaining a more complete taxonomic distribution of DUI in the Bivalvia may help to better understand its origin and function. In this study we provide evidence for the presence of sex-linked heteroplasmy (thus the possible presence of DUI) in two bivalve species, i.e., the nuculanoidYoldia hyperborea(Gould, 1841)and the veneroidScrobicularia plana(Da Costa,1778), increasing the number of families in which DUI has been found by two. An update on the taxonomic distribution of DUI in the Bivalvia is also presented.