Biparental plastid inheritance in Pennisetum americanum

A chlorophyll-deficient phenotype, designated whitestriping-3, was detected in Pennisetuin atnericanum, inbred line IP 482. The mutant condition exhibited non-Mendelian, biparental inheritance with a suggestion of dominating maternal influence. Spontaneous plastid mutation and sorting out of the mutant plastids from the wild type were responsible for the striped phenotype. The relative rates of multiplication of the green and mutant plastids varied in different variegated plants; the factors responsible for such variable behavior of the plastids could not be identified.