Mitochondrial inheritance in phytopathogenic fungi—everything is known, or is it?

Abstract

Mitochondria are important organelles in eukaryotes that provide energy for cellular processes. Their function is highly conserved and depends on the expression of nuclear encoded genes and genes encoded in the organellar genome. Mitochondrial DNA replication is independent of the replication control of nuclear DNA and as such, mitochondria may behave as selfish elements, so they need to be controlled, maintained and reliably inherited to progeny. Phytopathogenic fungi meet with special environmental challenges within the plant host that might depend on and influence mitochondrial functions and services. We find that this topic is basically unexplored in the literature, so this review largely depends on work published in other systems. In trying to answer elemental questions on mitochondrial functioning, we aim to introduce the aspect of mitochondrial functions and services to the study of plant-microbe-interactions and stimulate phytopathologists to consider research on this important organelle in their future projects.