∞ generated and posted on 2015.12.31 ∞
In replication, an entity that supplies template, cytoplasm, or both.
| It might be obvious what a Parent is, though perhaps not surprisingly there is discrepancy in terms of just what a parent brings to the creation of offspring and indeed just what the term offspring implies. |
The parental organism thus supplies the templating hereditary material. If that parent is both a cell and maternal, or if reproduction is asexual, then it supplies the cytoplasm as well. If that parent is a cell and paternal, i.e., supplying sperm, then it is only template that is supplied, i.e., a haploid set of chromosomes.
In horizontal gene transfer such as among bacteria, the donor cell supplies template only while the recipient cell supplies both template and cytoplasm. In the case of viral infection of an individual cell, the parental, i.e., infected cell supplies cytoplasm but not template which instead is supplied by the parental, infecting virus.
In any case, I am employing the term cytoplasm generally as the non-chromosomal part of a cell, i.e., including such crucial structures as ribosomes, plasma membrane, various anabolic and catabolic pathways, etc.