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Module 3.1 · Topic 4
Module 3.1 · Topic 4
The inheritance pattern that ignores half of Mendel's setup
A father carries a mitochondrial disease. He has five children. Not one inherits it from him — not one out of five, not one out of fifty, no matter how many children he has. A mother with the exact same condition? Every single one of her children inherits it. Mendel never described a pattern like this.
Every lesson so far assumed both parents contribute genetic material roughly equally. Does a father's mitochondrial DNA ever show up in his children?
Mitochondrial DNA is typically inherited:
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