Tracing Ancestry with MtDNA (mitochondrial DNA)
So the fertilized egg contains a mixture of the father and mother's nuclear DNA and an exact copy of the mother's mtDNA, but none of the father's mtDNA. The result is that mtDNA is passed on only along the maternal line. This means that all of the mtDNA in the cells of a person's body are copies of his or her mother's mtDNA, and all of the mother's mtDNA is a copy of her mother's, and so on. No matter how far back you go, mtDNA is always inherited only from the mother. If you went back six generations in your own family tree, you'd see that your nuclear DNA is inherited from 32 men and 32 women[1]. Your mtDNA, on the other hand, would have come from only one of those 32 women. |
Joe Mobley
Life: Nature's way of keeping meat fresh
Getting old ain't for sissy's
As you are I was, as I am you will be
You can't fix stupid, but you can always out smart it.
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