Inheritance, mitochondrial definition - medical term
The pattern of transmission of a genetic trait
encoded in the mitochondrial genome.
Because of the peculiarities of mitochondria, mitochondrial inheritance does
not obey the classic rules of Mendelian genetics. Persons with a mitochondrial disease
may be male or female but they are always related to one another in the matrilineal
line. No male with a mitochondrial disease can transmit it to his children. A female
with a mitochondrial disease will transmit it to all of her children.
The mitochondria are normal structures or organelles in cells. They are located
outside the nucleus in the cell's cytoplasm. The mitochondria are responsible for
energy production. They consist of two sets of membranes, a smooth continuous outer
coat and an inner membrane arranged in tubules or in folds that form plate-like
double membranes (cristae). The mitochondria are in fact the principal energy source
of the cell (thanks to the cytochrome enzymes of terminal electron transport and
the enzymes of the citric acid cycle, fatty acid oxidation, and oxidative phosphorylation).
The mitochondria convert nutrients into energy as well as doing many other specialized
tasks.
Each mitochondrion has a chromosome that is made of DNA but is otherwise quite
different from the far better known chromosomes in the nucleus. It is much smaller
and it is round (whereas the chromosomes in the nucleus are shaped like rods). There
are also many copies of the mitochondrial chromosome in every cell (whereas there
is normally only one set of chromosomes in the nucleus).
And, since the mitochondrial chromosome is transmitted in a matrilinear manner,
we have Eve to thank for our mitochondrial chromosome.
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