cytoplasmic inheritance

cy·to·plas·mic in·her·i·tance

transmission of characters dependent on self-perpetuating elements not nuclear in origin (for example, mitochondrial DNA).

Synonym(s): extranuclear inheritance

cy·to·plas·mic in·her·i·tance

(sī'tō-plaz'mik in-her'i-tăns)

Transmission of characters dependent on self-perpetuating elements not nuclear in origin (e.g., mitochondrial DNA).

cytoplasmic inheritance

The genetic effects of DNA situated in MITOCHONDRIA.

cytoplasmic inheritance

or

extranuclear inheritance

the control of certain characters by genetic factors located in the cytoplasm of EUKARYOTES. These cytoplasmic mechanisms can show themselves as general ‘maternal’ influences (since the female gamete contains more cytoplasm than the male) as in the control of shell coiling in the snail Limnaea. DNA has also been located in several cytoplasmic organelles, such as a MITOCHONDRION or a CHLOROPLAST, which can replicate and function independently of the nucleus.