Question

When a certain character is inherited only through of female parent, it probably represents

• A. Multiple plastid inheritance
• B. Cytoplasmic inheritance
• C. Incomplete dominance
• D. Mendelian nuclear inheritance

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

Cytoplasmic inheritance

1) Plastids are cytoplasmic organelles which contain DNA and duplicate themselves independently of nuclear genes and are distributed more or less equally to daughter cells during mitosis.

2) Extra-chromosomal inheritance or cytoplasmic inheritance is the inheritance of characteristics of only one of the two parents, usually the female parent to the progeny.

3) Incomplete dominance is a form of intermediate inheritance in which one allele for a specific trait is not completely expressed over its paired allele. This results in a third phenotype in which the expressed physical trait is a combination of the phenotypes of both alleles.

4) In Mendelian inheritance, each parent contributes one of two possible alleles for a trait.

So, the correct answer is 'Cytoplasmic inheritance'.