When sperm and egg fuse to form a diploid zygote, the new individual gets half of its nuclear genetic information, 23 chromosomes, from each parent. That 50/50 split is the basis of Mendelian inheritance. However, due to the sheer size of the egg cell, all (or nearly all) of the mitochondria in the embryo come from the mother. In other words, mitochondrial inheritance is maternal
Okay, as Ambar stated.......
Nearly every cell contains scores of mitochondria, tiny organelles that play a key role in releasing cellular energy
