maternal inheritance
From mother's line
Maternal inheritance describes traits or genetic material passed down exclusively through the mother.
In genetics, it refers specifically to inheritance through mitochondrial DNA, which comes only from the egg cell: Maternal inheritance patterns helped scientists trace human migration.
The term also applies more broadly to property or status transmitted through the female line.
- mitochondriaCell's energy-producing organelles
- eggReproductive cell in shell
- egg cellFemale reproductive unit
- cytoplasmGel surrounding the nucleus
- organelleSubcellular functional unit
passed down · lineage · matrilineal · ancestry · family tree · genome · chloroplast · uniparental · ovum · trait · geneticist · pedigree · DNA testing · mutation · disease · cell · cell biology · energy
- reproductionreproduction, birth, baby, egg, sperm
- Mitochondriamitochondria, ATP, inner membrane, cristae, intermembrane space
- non-Mendelian inheritanceincomplete dominance, codominance, epigenetics, mosaicism, anticipation
- Organelle Geneticsmitochondrial DNA, haplogroup, haplogroups, haplotype, nucleoid
- geneticsDNA, allele, genotype, genes, gene
- hybridizationhybridization, crossbreeding, interbreeding, cross-pollination, hybrid vigor
maternal, inherit, inheritance, mother, motherly, motherhood, maternity, matriarch, matriarchal