Inheritance of Mitochondria in Pelargonium Section Ciconium (Sweet) Interspecific Crosses

Abstract

We have studied the inheritance of mitochondria in Pelargonium section Ciconium using 36 interspecific crosses generated. We designed KASP markers targeting four mitochondrial loci, belonging to the mitomes of four main crossing parents, enabling tracking the transmission of each mitome in the crosses. These markers discriminate between an individual species versus the other section Ciconium species. We found that maternal inheritance of mitochondria is most frequent, with occasional occurrences of paternal inheritance, while biparental inheritance is rare. For a P. multibracteatum crossing series, we found ambiguous results. Our results confirm those of previous studies, namely, that paternal inheritance of mitochondria can occur in P. sect Ciconium but that the instance is rare and much less common than is the case for chloroplasts.