ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ANIMAL MITOCHONDRIAL-DNA

This chapter discusses isolation and characterization of animal mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). It summarizes the key patterns that have emerged from the data available to date and presents these as a practical guide for accumulating and using mtDNA data for evolutionary study. The chapter also provides a list of protocols for isolating and comparing animal mtDNAs. Animal mtDNA is characterized as circular, conserved in genome size, rapidly evolving, maternally inherited, and containing the genes. Mitochondrial genes evolve at rates that are highly variable from gene to gene. Different aspects of mtDNA sequence change are used for a variety of evolutionary questions at many different taxonomic or hierarchical levels. Strategies for collecting data are discussed in the chapter. Whether researchers are interested in examining mtDNA variation at the population level or at higher systematic levels, two decisions must be grappled with at the outset. First, some choices must be made regarding which portion of the genome to examine. Second, it must be determined what level of resolution will be required to address the questions being asked. © 1993, Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.