How is mtDNA used in evolutionary studies?
The same attributes of mtDNA which make it so useful in researching family trees can be extended to aid evolutionary studies. In the search for a common ancestor, mtDNA is among the most powerful tools we have. In addition to the convenience matrilineal inheritance provides for researchers, mtDNA is also much easier to extract from ancient skeletons than nuclear DNA. The reason for this is that there are 2-10 mitochondrial “plasmids” per mitochondrion, and many mitochondria per cell, which means that there is a much higher quantity of DNA to be salvaged. The relative ease of extracting mtDNA from skeletons makes it an attractive tool for scientists whose studies range back thousands of years. Another feature of mtDNA that is useful to evolutionary studies is the D-loop region. The D-loop is the location where mtDNA replication starts. It is a rare non-protein coding region in the mitochondrial genome and has attracted the attention of geneticists because it contains highly diverse “hyp
