What is Mitochondrial DNA?
Generally all DNAs are packed in chromosomes within the nucleus in the cell but mitochondria have its own DNA, called mitochondrial DNA or mt DNA. This mitochondrial DNA found in almost all eukaryotic cells. Mitochondrial DNA contains 37 genes and containing almost 16,600 bp. They all are essential for normal mitochondrial functions.
Structure:
In most unicellular organisms, the mt DNA is linear and possess telomerase independent telomerase which made them reach their interesting objects. So, these organisms are known as pathogens.
On the other hand, multicellular organisms have circular, double stranded mtDNA. For human mt DNA, 100-10,000 separate copies of mt DNA are present per cell.
Functions:
About 13 genes of Mitochondrial DNA help in making enzymes for oxidative phosphorylation reactions and remaining genes give instruction for making tRNA and rRNA. These genes help in the replication of DNA. Mitochondrial DNAs are self-replicated. These DNA may also play a role in the evolutionary relationship among species.
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