Inheritance of spheroid body and plastid in the raphid diatom Epithemia (Bacillariophyta) during sexual reproduction

Diatoms belonging to the family Epithemiaceae have endosymbiont ‘spheroid bodies’, which received attention as a model provide new insights into early stages of organelle evolution. Uniparental inheritance, known in wide range sexually reproducing eukaryotes, is considered be one key characteristics acquired during evolution an organelle. However, there has been no information about inheritance spheroid bodies. The aim present study was, therefore, investigate modes bodies and plastids isogamous diatom Epithemia gibba var. ventricosa, we established heterothallic. We induced sexual reproduction E. ventricosa culture, using compatible mating strains that differed with respect nucleotide polymorphisms body plastid genomes. F1 were genotyped reveal parental origin parent-specific polymorphisms. results suggested was uniparental (i.e. progeny genome from either parent but not both) random unbiased ratio origins), while more complex, being predominantly few biparental cases. This first report pattern will contribute better understand evolutionary state this