Doubly Uniparental Inheritance of Mitochondria As a Model System for Studying Germ Line Formation

BACKGROUND: Doubly Uniparental Inheritance (DUI) of mitochondria occurs when both mothers and fathers are capable of transmitting mitochondria to their offspring, in contrast to the typical Strictly Maternal Inheritance (SMI). DUI was found in some bivalve molluscs, in which two mitochondrial genomes are inherited, one through eggs, the other through sperm. During male embryo development, spermatozoon mitochondria aggregate in proximity of the first cleavage furrow and end up in the primordial germ cells, while they are dispersed in female embryos. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We used MitoTracker, microtubule staining and transmission electron microscopy to examine the mechanisms of this unusual distribution of sperm mitochondria in the DUI species Ruditapes philippinarum. Our results suggest that in male embryos the midbody deriving from the mitotic spindle of the first division concurs in positioning the aggregate of sperm mitochondria. Furthermore, an immunocytochemical analysis showed that the germ line determinant Vasa segregates close to the first cleavage furrow. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: In DUI male embryos, spermatozoon mitochondria aggregate in a stable area on the animal-vegetal axis: in organisms with spiral segmentation this zone is not involved in cleavage, so the aggregation is maintained. Moreover, sperm mitochondria reach the same embryonic area in which also germ plasm is transferred. In 2-blastomere embryos, the segregation of sperm mitochondria in the same region with Vasa suggests their contribution in male germ line formation. In DUI male embryos, M-type mitochondria must be recognized by egg factors to be actively transferred in the germ line, where they become dominant replacing the Balbiani body mitochondria. The typical features of germ line assembly point to a common biological mechanism shared by DUI and SMI organisms. Although the molecular dynamics of the segregation of sperm mitochondria in DUI species are unknown, they could be a variation of the mechanism regulating the mitochondrial bottleneck in all metazoans.