2020–2021 BCSC Basic and Clinical Science Course™
2 Fundamentals and Principles of Ophthalmology
Part III: Genetics
Chapter 6: Clinical Genetics
Patterns of Inheritance
Maternal Inheritance
When nearly all offspring of an affected woman appear to be at risk for inheriting and expressing a trait, and the daughters are at risk for passing on the trait to the next generation, the pattern of inheritance is called maternal inheritance. The disease stops with all-male offspring, whether affected or not. This form of inheritance is highly suggestive of a mitochondrial disorder. The structure and molecular aspects of the mitochondrial genome and a general discussion of mitochondrial disease are covered in Chapter 5.
Excerpted from BCSC 2020-2021 series: Section 2 - Fundamentals and Principles of Ophthalmology. For more information and to purchase the entire series, please visit https://www.aao.org/bcsc.