A general linear model of familial resemblance is described which allows for cultural transmission from parent to offspring, polygenic inheritance, phenotypic assortative mating, common environment, maternal and paternal effects, and threshold effects. Three special cases are described in detail which are particularly useful when data are only available about a few classes of relatives reared i...

Why the DNA-containing organelles, chloroplasts, and mitochondria, are inherited maternally is a long standing and unsolved question. However, recent years have seen a paradigm shift, in that the absoluteness of uniparental inheritance is increasingly questioned. Here, we review the field and propose a unifying model for organelle inheritance. We argue that the predominance of the maternal mode...

DNA methylation is a chromatin modification that contributes to epigenetic regulation of gene expression. The inheritance patterns and trans-generational stability of 962 differentially methylated regions (DMRs) were assessed in a panel of 71 near-isogenic lines (NILs) derived from maize (Zea mays) inbred lines B73 and Mo17. The majority of DMRs exhibit inheritance patterns that would be expect...

A number of DNA probes from the short arm of the X chromosome have been used to study the inheritance of the translocation chromosomes in a girl with an X; autosome translocation and muscular dystrophy. The two translocation chromosomes were found to be derived from the father's single normal X chromosome, ruling out maternal inheritance of a pre-existent mutation and enhancing the concept that...

Genetic analysis of transcriptional regulation is a rapidly emerging field of investigation that promises to shed light on the regulatory networks that control gene expression. Although a number of such studies have been carried out, the nature and extent of the heritability of gene expression traits have not been well established. We describe the inheritance of transcript levels in liver tissu...

Mitochondria play a critical role in the generation of metabolic energy and are crucial for eukaryotic cell survival and proliferation. In most sexual eukaryotes, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is inherited from only one parent in non-Mendelian inheritance in contrast to the inheritance of nuclear DNA. The model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae is commonly used to study mitochondrial biology. It ha...

The inheritance of mitochondrial genetic (mtDNA) markers in the gynodioecious plant Silene vulgaris was studied using a series of controlled crosses between parents of known mtDNA genotype followed by quantitative PCR assays of offspring genotype. Overall, approximately 2.5% of offspring derived from crosses between individuals that were homoplasmic for different mtDNA marker genotypes showed e...

Dark-adapted spectral sensitivities were measured in the peripheral retinas of 38 patients diagnosed as having typical retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and in 3 normal volunteers. The patients included those having autosomal dominant and autosomal recessive inheritance patterns. Results were analysed by comparisons with the CIE standard scotopic spectral visibility function and with Judd's modificatio...