Fig. 3

ΔmtDNA levels are differentially eliminated in fzo-1(mut);ΔmtDNA animals based on size or mtDNA position. A, B Box plot showing the percentage of 1kbΔmtDNA (A) or 4kbΔmtDNA (B) ΔmtDNA (N > 3 biological repeats), determined in individual animals of the parental heteroplasmic strain +/1kbΔmtDNA (n = 14) and +/4kbΔmtDNA (n = 15), the fzo-1(mut) mutant cross-progeny strains (1kbΔmtDNA F1(ht) n = 18, G1m-G4m n = 15, 20, 17 and 19 and 4kbΔmtDNA F1(ht) n = 18, G1m-G4m n = 14, 14, 21 and 20) and the progeny of G4m animals crossed with fzo-1(wt), (Gm → Gwt n = 15 and n = 20 respectively). In the boxplot representation, center line, median; box limits, upper and lower quartiles; whiskers, minimum and maximum; points, data. Data were analyzed using fractional regression (Additional file 1: Table S3). ΔmtDNA levels of G1m-G4m and Gm->Gwt were significantly lower than those of the parental strains in both +/1kbΔmtDNA and +/4kbΔmtDNA, (**) denotes P < 0.001. C Box plot comparing the percentage of ΔmtDNA in animals carrying +/3kbΔmtDNA (blue), +/1kbΔmtDNA (yellow) or +/4kbΔmtDNA (red) in each generation (G1m-G4m; data from Fig. 2C, Fig. 3A, and Fig. 3B, respectively). In the boxplot representation, center line, median; box limits, upper and lower quartiles; whiskers, minimum and maximum; points, data. Data were analyzed using fractional regression followed by within generation pairwise comparisons (Additional file 1: Table S3), different letters indicate a significant difference in mean levels of ΔmtDNA levels: G1-G2, 4 kb levels (a) lower than 3 kb and 1 kb (b, P < 0.001); G3, 4 kb levels (a) lower than 3 kb (b, P < 0.01) and 4 kb (a) and 3 kb (b) levels lower than 1 kb (c, P < 0.001); G4, 4 kb and 3 kb levels (a) lower than 1 kb (b, P < 0.001). Individual data values are presented in Additional file 2