Research report 2020 - Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology
Why do genders fight?
Authors
Greiner, Stephan
Departments
Arbeitsgruppe Zytoplasmatische und Evolutionäre Genetik
Summary
Mothers pass more genetic information to their offspring than fathers, since females transmit the cell organelles, chloroplasts and mitochondria, which contain their own genes. In the evening primrose (genus Oenothera) chloroplasts and their genes can be transmitted by the pollen of the father. By this, a conflict between the sexes becomes evident that is about whose genes succeed in transmission. By the identification of an enzyme of the fatty acid metabolism we could show for the first time how the “battle of sexes” is fought.