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Mitochondria are small structures in cells that generate energy for the cell to use, and are hence referred to as the "powerhouses" of the cell. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is not transmitted through nuclear DNA (nDNA). In humans, as in most multicellular organisms, mitochondrial DNA is inherited only from the mother's ovum.
In genetics, paternal mtDNA transmission and paternal mtDNA inheritance refer to the incidence of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) being passed from a father to his offspring. . Paternal mtDNA inheritance is observed in a small proportion of species; in general, mtDNA is passed unchanged from a mother to her offspring, [1] making it an example of non-Mendelian inh
Mitochondrial DNA is the small circular chromosome found inside mitochondria. These organelles, found in all eukaryotic cells, are the powerhouse of the cell. [1] The mitochondria, and thus mitochondrial DNA, are passed exclusively from mother to offspring through the egg cell.
Unlike almost all animals, this species has biparental inheritance for mitochondrial DNA, meaning that both the male and the female contribute mitochondria to the offspring. This was discovered when researchers realized that most individuals of a Mytilus edulis population were heteroplasmic. [ 5 ]
Uniparental inheritance occurs in extranuclear genes when only one parent contributes organellar DNA to the offspring. A classic example of uniparental gene transmission is the maternal inheritance of human mitochondria. The mother's mitochondria are transmitted to the offspring at fertilization via the egg. The father's mitochondrial genes are ...
Mitochondrial DNA usually has 16,569 base pairs (the number can vary slightly depending on addition or deletion mutations) [24] and is much smaller than the human genome DNA which has 3.2 billion base pairs. Mitochondrial DNA is transmitted from mother to child, as it is contained in the egg cell.
The traits encoded by this type of DNA, in animals, generally pass from mother to offspring rather than from the father in a process called cytoplasmic inheritance.This is due to the ovum provided from the mother being larger than the male sperm cell, and therefore has more organelles, where the organellar DNA is found.
The hypothetical woman at the root of all these groups (meaning just the mitochondrial DNA haplogroups) is the matrilineal most recent common ancestor (MRCA) for all currently living humans. She is commonly called Mitochondrial Eve. The rate at which mitochondrial DNA mutates is known as the mitochondrial molecular clock. It is an area of ...