What component of my DNA does my daughter inherit from me?

Question:

What component of my DNA does my daughter inherit from me?

I understand that I have the Y-Chromosome of my father and the mtDNA from my mother. I pass on my Y-Chromosome to my son, but I don't pass on my mtDNA from my mother to my daughter... my daughter gets her mtDNA from HER mother (the wife!)

So what component of my DNA does my daughter inherit from me? We DO look alike!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Actually you pass your mtDNA to both your son and daughter....though only for a brief period of time.

The mtDNA from the father is usually destroyed by the egg cell right after fertilization. So while you did contribute this to the process, your wife (or her now fertilized egg) wiped it out.

If you want to really get technical, your mtDNA is tagged with a substance known as ubiquitin which fingers it for destruction in the fetus. Yes, in some cases, the tail of the sperm does "drop off" before entering the egg. But even when this doesn't happen, male mtDNA is destroyed. In many other mammals, paternal mtDNA is NOT destroyed.

So the answer is your daughter does get all the DNA for you, but your wife wipes out the mtDNA part right after fertilization.

This is mitochondrial DNA folks, not nuclear DNA. Source(s):
Best reference for ubiquitin - Sutovsky, P., et.al (Nov 25, 1999). "Ubiquitin tag for sperm mitochondria". Nature 402:371-372. It has been known for a long time about sperm mtDNA being destroyed after fertilization - this started the understanding of HOW this happens. Additional studies are underway concerning in-vitro fertilization (oocyte injection) which might interfer with this tagging and allow male mtDNA to survive - what are the ramifications of male and female mtDNA recombination? I don't know but I can tell you she will not get any part of the size of your member!!! Almost exactly half. Few characteristics are sex-linked. Most of your DNA is autosomal. You get it 50-50 from both parents. It is the only DNA that proves paternity of a female. You will pass on 23 chromosomes to your daughter/son. The relative outcome occurs when the dominate of the genes match to the recessives genes. Items like eye color and hair color are based for dominate and recessives genes. IE brown eyes are dominate color over green or blue, yet you and your wife can have brown, but your children have blue, due to blue being recessive on both your sides. a kerotype gene picture can give you your daughter/son gene picture. There seems to be some confusion and mis-information in the other answers. Your daughter will get half her autosomal DNA from you. (Chromosomes 1-23) She will also get your X chromasome (from your mother, her grandmother). She also gets her other X chromasome from her mother. She will not get your mDNA as she gets this from her mother (and so do all her siblings).
My understanding is that a father's mDNA is in the tail of the sperm. As this drops off as the head of the sperm enters the egg the father's mDNA does not get passed on to any children. I do not know about ubiquitin, this may be a new discovery I have not learnt about.