1. Nuclear-mitochondrial DNA segments resemble paternally inherited mitochondrial DNA in humans
- Author
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Ernest Turro, Alistair T. Pagnamenta, Jonathan Stephens, Shamima Rahman, Jenny C. Taylor, John Broxholme, Mark J. Caulfield, Patrick F. Chinnery, Christopher A. Odhams, Wei Wei, Salih Tuna, Alba Sanchis-Juan, Carl Fratter, Nicholas Gleadall, Wei, Wei [0000-0002-2945-3543], Pagnamenta, Alistair T [0000-0001-7334-0602], Tuna, Salih [0000-0003-3606-4367], Fratter, Carl [0000-0001-7125-5391], Turro, Ernest [0000-0002-1820-6563], Caulfield, Mark J [0000-0001-9295-3594], Rahman, Shamima [0000-0003-2088-730X], and Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Male ,Mitochondrial DNA ,Nuclear gene ,Science ,General Physics and Astronomy ,Biology ,Human mitochondrial genetics ,DNA, Mitochondrial ,Article ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,03 medical and health sciences ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,0302 clinical medicine ,Mitochondrial genome ,Humans ,Family ,Genetic variation ,Allele ,Author Correction ,lcsh:Science ,Whole genome sequencing ,Genetics ,Cell Nucleus ,Multidisciplinary ,Models, Genetic ,Eukaryote ,Haplotype ,Reproducibility of Results ,General Chemistry ,Heteroplasmy ,Pedigree ,030104 developmental biology ,chemistry ,Haplotypes ,Paternal Inheritance ,lcsh:Q ,Female ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,DNA - Abstract
Several strands of evidence question the dogma that human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is inherited exclusively down the maternal line, most recently in three families where several individuals harbored a ‘heteroplasmic haplotype’ consistent with biparental transmission. Here we report a similar genetic signature in 7 of 11,035 trios, with allelic fractions of 5–25%, implying biparental inheritance of mtDNA in 0.06% of offspring. However, analysing the nuclear whole genome sequence, we observe likely large rare or unique nuclear-mitochondrial DNA segments (mega-NUMTs) transmitted from the father in all 7 families. Independently detecting mega-NUMTs in 0.13% of fathers, we see autosomal transmission of the haplotype. Finally, we show the haplotype allele fraction can be explained by complex concatenated mtDNA-derived sequences rearranged within the nuclear genome. We conclude that rare cryptic mega-NUMTs can resemble paternally mtDNA heteroplasmy, but find no evidence of paternal transmission of mtDNA in humans., Recent evidence has questioned the dogma of strict maternal transmission of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in humans. Wei et al. saw no evidence of paternal transmission of mtDNA in 11,035 human trios, and show that nuclear-mitochondrial segments (NUMTs) can give the impression of paternal mtDNA transmission, but are actually inherited through the nuclear genome.
- Published
- 2020
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