New mtDNA Analysis May Spur Changes in Forensics
There’s one surprising findings carried out by molecular geneticist Nickolas Papadopoulos of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetic and Therapeutics and the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore and his colleagues – about the presence of additional mitochondrial genomes in one of us (instead of only one mitochondrial genome in one of us).
Here’s the excerpt from The Scientist:
“That was a surprise when we saw the results,” Papadopoulos said. “There’s more than one mitochondrial genome present in each one of us. In addition to that, there were variations from tissue to tissue [in the levels of heteroplasmy observed], which may have implications in embryogenesis.” The findings may also affect more practical applications in forensics science and the development of biomarkers for certain diseases, which often utilize mtDNA because it is abundant and easy to amplify, he added.
However, it’s still unclear why mtDNA is so variable and it will definitely incite mitochondrial genome studies in future.
via The Scientist
Picture courtesy of Mark Cummins