MITOCHONDRIA GENOME
WHY DOES MITOCHONDRIA HAS ITS OWN GENOME? A typical human cell has about 100 mitochondria. Eukaryotic cell is dependent on mitochondria which provides energy to the cell in the form of ATP. Mitochondria is also involved in cell signalling, cell growth and death. The mitochondria has its own circular genome that is completely separate from other chromosomes in the cell. If mitochondria evolved from the nucleus, their DNA would be identical to nuclear DNA. They aren't. Mitochondrial DNA is circular, just like in bacteria. The evidence that mitochondria originated from ancient prokaryotes which formed a symbiotic relationship with larger cells is overwhelming. The human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is a double-stranded, circular molecule of 16 569 bp and contains 37 genes coding for two rRNAs, 22 tRNAs and 13 polypeptides. These types of RNA help assemble protein building blocks (amino acids) into functioning proteins. Another special inheritance pattern is that the mitochondrial DNA ar...