David Rand is at the Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Box G-W, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
Trends Ecol Evol. 1994 Apr;9(4):125-31. doi: 10.1016/0169-5347(94)90176-7.
The hallmarks of animal mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are a rapid rate of sequence evolution, a small genome carrying the same set of homologous genes, maternal inheritance and lack of recombination. Over the past few years, a variety of different observations has challenged these accepted notions of mitochondrial biology. Notable examples include evidence for variable rates of mtDNA sequence evolution among taxa, evidence for large and variable mitochondrial genome sizes in certain groups, and a growing number of cases in metazoans of 'paternal leakage' in the inheritance of mtDNA. Several recent studies have uncovered different lines of evidence suggesting that an organism's thermal habit, or metabolic rate, can influence the evolution of mtDNA.
动物线粒体 DNA（mtDNA）的特征是序列进化迅速、基因组小、携带相同的同源基因、母系遗传和缺乏重组。在过去的几年中，各种不同的观察结果挑战了线粒体生物学的这些公认观念。值得注意的例子包括在分类群中 mtDNA 序列进化率的可变性证据、某些群体中大而可变的线粒体基因组大小的证据，以及后生动物中线粒体 DNA 遗传中“父系渗漏”的越来越多的案例。最近的几项研究揭示了不同的证据线，表明生物体的热习惯或代谢率可以影响 mtDNA 的进化。
