Germline passage of mitochondria: quantitative considerations and possible embryological sequelae

Using a semi-quantitative review of published electron micrographs, we have explored the passage of mitochondria from one generation to the next through the cytoplasm of the human female germ cell. We propose a testable hypothesis that the mitochondria of the germline are persistently 'haploid' (effectively carrying just one mitochondrial chromosome per organelle). For mitochondria, the passage through germ cell differentiation, oogenesis, follicle formation and loss could constitute a restriction/amplification/constraint event of a type previously demonstrated for asexual purification and refinement of a nonrecombining genome. At the restriction event (or 'bottleneck') in the human primordial germ cell, which differentiates in embryos after gastrulation, there appear to be <10 mitochondria per cell. From approximately 100 or so such cells, a population of > or =7 x 10(6) oogonia and primary oocytes is produced in the fetal ovaries during mid-gestation, with mitochondria numbering up to 10000 per cell, implying a massive amplification of the mitochondrial genome. A further 10-fold or greater increase in mitochondrial numbers per oocyte occurs during adult follicular growth and development, as resting primordial follicles develop to preovulatory maturity. So few are the numbers of oocytes that fertilize and successfully cleave to form an embryo of the new generation, that biologists have long suspected that a competitive constraint lies behind the generational completion of this genetic cycle. I propose that maintaining the integrity of mitochondrial inheritance is such a strong evolutionary imperative that features of ovarian follicular formation, function, and loss could be expected to have been primarily adapted to this special purpose. To extend the hypothesis further, the imperative of maintaining mitochondrial genomic integrity in a population could explain why women normally become sterile a number of years before there is depletion of ovarian follicles and endocrine ovarian failure (i.e. why there is 'an oopause' preceding the menopause). Plausible explanations might also follow for several well-known and puzzling reproductive difficulties, including recurrent miscarriage, unexplained infertility, and persistent failure of IVF embryos to cleave or to implant. Current experimental laboratory manoeuvres that might circumvent mitochondrial shortcomings (such as cytoplasmic transfusion and karyoplast exchange) are examined and possible clinical hazards identified.