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ClarkFable t1_irawgyb wrote

Reply to comment by thenaterator in Mitochondrial DNA Is Working Its Way Into the Human Genome by molrose96

How is mitochondrial DNA stored separately if all humans start as a zygote? It's not a zygote + some mitochondrion, is it?

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Arcal t1_irbninw wrote

Yes, it is. All the zygote mitochondria are maternally derived an have their own DNA. The fathers are selectively degraded.

Over millennia, genes have been moving from the mitochondria to the nuclear DNA, there are only 13 protein coding genes left in the mitochondrial genome now vs 30,000 ish in the nucleus.

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DanielNoWrite t1_irazl1u wrote

It's passed along with the human dna, primarily in the egg, meaning it's inherited maternally (though I believe there are some exceptions to this).

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