Astrobiologists cultivating the bioluminescent crystal-moss Astraea viridis discover that its emerald glow is driven by an autonomous photosynthetic organelle called the phytoplast, which possesses its own circular genome. When a glowing female plant is crossed with a non-glowing male plant, every offspring in the first generation emits an emerald glow, but the reciprocal cross between a non-glowing female and a glowing male produces exclusively non-glowing offspring. Which principle of organelle genetics explains why the offspring phenotype depends entirely on the maternal parent in these crosses?

A) Cytoplasmic organelle genes are inherited uniparentally through the nutrient-rich egg cell rather than the sperm cell.

B) The nuclear genome undergoes sex-linked genomic imprinting that permanently silences the paternal photoprotein alleles.

C) Crossing over between chloroplast-like genomes occurs only within the specialized meiotic cells of the male pollen parent.

D) Dominant nuclear alleles governing bioluminescence segregate during gametogenesis according to Mendel's law of independent assortment.

Mitochondrial and chloroplast inheritance Original Scenario-Based Practice

Biology · Heredity · Biology · Non-Mendelian Genetics

1 Biology practice questions on Mitochondrial and chloroplast inheritance. Questions built around original scenarios.

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Heredity · Biology

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