How is Mitochondrial DNA Used in Forensics?
While deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing has been around for a while now, recent advances in the use of mitochondrial DNA have helped forensic scientists solve crimes that involve problems in identification of individuals based on DNA evidence.SignificanceSometimes, tissue or bodily fluid samples from a crime scene are very small, damaged or badly degraded, which makes them difficult to match to a known sample using traditional analytical techniques. Techniques for genotyping mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have made this process much easier.More Abundant in the BodyThe mtDNA is located in the mitochondria, which are found outside of a cell’s nucleus. While human cell nuclei each contain only two copies of DNA genomes, hundreds of copies of mtDNA genomes are located outside of each cell’s nucleus. This increases the chance of finding sufficient mtDNA from damaged or small samples.Sources of Reference SamplesA person’s mtDNA is inherited from his mother. So unless there is a mutation, the pe
