Ladoukakis Emmanuel D, Zouros Eleftherios
Department of Biology, University of Crete, Voutes University Campus, 70013 Iraklio, Greece.
J Biol Res (Thessalon). 2017 Jan 31;24:2. doi: 10.1186/s40709-017-0060-4. eCollection 2017 Dec.
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been studied intensely for "its own" merit. Its role for the function of the cell and the organism remains a fertile field, its origin and evolution is an indispensable part of the evolution of life and its interaction with the nuclear DNA is among the most important cases of genome synergism and co-evolution. Also, mtDNA was proven one of the most useful tools in population genetics and molecular phylogenetics. In this article we focus on animal mtDNA and discuss briefly how our views about its structure, function and transmission have changed, how these changes affect the information we have accumulated through its use in the fields of phylogeny and population structure and what are the most important questions that remain open for future research.
线粒体DNA(mtDNA)因其自身的价值而受到深入研究。它在细胞和生物体功能中的作用仍是一个充满活力的研究领域,其起源和进化是生命进化不可或缺的一部分,它与核DNA的相互作用是基因组协同作用和共同进化的最重要案例之一。此外,mtDNA被证明是群体遗传学和分子系统发育学中最有用的工具之一。在本文中,我们聚焦于动物mtDNA,并简要讨论我们对其结构、功能和遗传传递的看法是如何改变的,这些变化如何影响我们通过在系统发育和群体结构领域使用它而积累的信息,以及未来研究仍有待解决的最重要问题是什么。