Uniparental

Uniparental refers to reproduction or inheritance involving only one parent. This contrasts with the more common biparental (or sexual) reproduction, where offspring receive genetic contributions from two parents. uniparental inheritance can occur through various mechanisms, including asexual reproduction (e.g., budding, fragmentation), and cytoplasmic inheritance (e.g., mitochondrial DNA inherited solely from the mother). The term highlights the singular source of genetic information and potential variations, or lack thereof, in offspring. It's a concept important to understand genetics and evolutionary biology.

Uniparental meaning with examples

• In certain plant species, propagation occurs via uniparental reproduction, where new plants sprout from vegetative parts like stems or roots, genetically identical to the parent plant. This process, also known as cloning or vegetative propagation, results in a large number of offspring that have all of the same genetic material as the single parent.
• Mitochondrial DNA is often subject to uniparental inheritance, being transmitted exclusively from the mother to offspring, in mammals. This pattern is also referred to as maternal inheritance. This can affect certain genetic disorders.
• The study of bacteria commonly includes uniparental modes of reproduction, often involving binary fission, in which a single cell divides and creates two genetically identical daughter cells, as the main form of reproduction. The offspring is very similar to the parent.
• Many invertebrates exhibit some form of uniparental reproduction, for example, some species can reproduce via parthenogenesis, developing without fertilization. They may be able to produce viable offspring without any sexual reproduction.
• Genetic disorders caused by mutations in the mitochondrial DNA commonly show a uniparental inheritance pattern, meaning the mutated mitochondrial DNA is inherited from the mother. This is because the egg cell, in most species, contains most of the cytoplasm and the mitochondria, unlike the sperm cell.