Characterization of chloroplast DNA in Chlamydomonas eugametos and C. moewusii and its inheritance in hybrid progeny

Summary The density, molecular weight, and cellular repetition of DNA molecules associated with the -DNA satellite of the interfertile algae Chlamydomonas eugametos and C. moewusii are reported. The similarities between these values and those for the chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) in the related alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii indicate that these satellites represent cpDNA. The buoyant densities of C. eugametos and C. moewusii cpDNAs are indistinguishable from one another, as are those of their respective nuclear DNAs. These densities differ slightly from the densities of the homologous components of C. reinhardtii whole cell DNA. All three species differ with respect to additional minor satellite DNAs and low molecular weight DNAs of unknown cellular location.Differences in the Aval and Smal restriction endonuclease fragmentation patterns of C. eugametos and C. moewusii cpDNAs were employed to study the inheritance of cpDNA in an F1 hybrid which had inherited a non-Mendelian streptomycin resistance marker (sr-2) from the C. eugametos mating-type plus (mt ⁺) parent and in two homoplasmic mitotic segregants from a B 1 hybrid (F₁ × C. moewusii) which had been initially heteroplasmic for the resistance marker. Although the cpDNA patterns in the F1 hybrid were similar to those of the C. eugametos ml ¹ parent, important differences were noted which suggest that recombination between C. eugametos and C. moewusii cpDNA had occurred. Homoplasmic streptomycin resistant and sensitive mitotic segregants recovered from the B1 hybrid product reveal Aval restriction patterns similar to those of the respective resistant and sensitive parents. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that the sr-2 marker is located in cpDNA and that C. eugametos and C. moewusii cpDNA sequences can coexist in the same chloroplast and, at least sometimes, segregate without extensive recombination. The transmission of low molecular weight DNAs characteristic of C. moewusii but of unknown cellular origin shows no direct correlation with the transmission of the sr-2 marker.