Ask the Scholars

Interviews from 2003

Question 7

Does mitochondrial DNA change over time?

Why was mitochondrial DNA used to compare the students' genetic sequences in Episode One of the film series? Does mitochondrial DNA change over time? Are 350 letters enough of a sample to really determine if two people are closely related?

Answers:

Jonathan Marks

Molecular Anthropologist

Mitochondrial DNA is easy to get and easy to study. Each cell contains many copies, while there are only one or two copies of nuclear DNA. The other good thing about mitochondrial DNA is that it changes very rapidly, about ten times more rapidly than nuclear DNA does. And so, when you compare mitochondrial DNA sequences across individuals, you're far more likely to find differences than in a comparable length of nuclear DNA across a couple of people.

Now the fact is that, not too...

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