Fig. 1: Chloroplast DNA from gametes harboring MT+ is protected from degradation in zygotes.

Differential interference contrast and overlaid fluorescent images of early-stage zygotes were taken at 30 and 90 min after mating. Cells were stained with SybrG (green) for visualizing cpDNA, organized into nucleoids via punctate staining within chlorophyll autofluorescence (magenta), and nuclear DNA within two nuclei (see below diagrams for their locations). Complete cpDNA degradation is indicated by no green signals within one chloroplast. Bar = 5 μm. The below diagrams illustrate the early-stage zygote cells with two nuclei (green) and two chloroplasts (violet) with nucleoids (green dots). The percentage of the dominant cpDNA degradation pattern for each mating combination was calculated from three biological replicates (mean ± s.d.) “n” indicates the total number of zygotes examined.