I originally wrote:
>> In article <3apegiINNakc at newsman.csu.murdoch.edu.au>, cummins at possum.murdoch.edu.au (Jim Cummins) writes:
> |> According to Hurst (Proc R Soc B 128: 135-140, 1992) uniparental
> |> inheritance of mitochondrial DNA has evolved as a means of avoiding
> |> potentially lethal intragenomic conflict. Another possibility is the
> |> limitation of mtDNA mutations.
One problem that's been pointed out to me is that cells carrying defective
mitochondria tend to drop out as they become dysfunctional. Thus the sperm line
will continually tend to "cleanse" itself of defective mtDNA. Oh well, it was a
nice hypothesis while it lasted.
