Talk:Mitochondrial DNA

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Is anything known about the effects of differences in mitochondrial DNA on organisms? Clearly it isn't going to affect skin color or anything of that sort, but it could conceivably have metabolic effects. Perhaps there is so little variation in mitochondrial DNA that its effects are unknown? Andrew 05:44, Apr 9, 2004 (UTC)

1 Cleanup
2 Link to vila's work
3 Traits and Consequences
4 More Cleanup
5 Article not to be merged w/ mitochondrial genetics!
6 References
7 Conceptus
8 Deleted and Overwritten Information
9 merge from Mitochondrial genome?

[edit] Cleanup

I think this article needs a rewrite. At the moment it has very little to say about what Mitochondrial DNA is and how it differs ballsin tracing inheritance. -- Solipsist 09:12, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC)

This should probably go on Wikipedia:pages needing attention rather than cleanup.Dunc_Harris|☺ 10:24, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I'ved added some stuff but it still doesn't cover half of what is known.Geni 10:39, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Thanks. That looks a lot better. Is the information on the number of rings & genes assuming human/mamillian cells? -- Solipsist 14:12, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC)

It comes from human but I don't know how much mitacondria differ between speciesGeni 14:15, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC)

This article covers the same territory as the mitochondrial genome page. I suggest that the two articles be merged together. -- Abstraktn 07:44, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I am building a new table of contents with stubs to show where this article vs the one on human mitochondria needs to go.--RebekahThorn 10:52, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Link to vila's work

The link provided by User:Magnus Manske goes to a page requiring authentication. Can he post the extract instead? -- Sundar 12:20, Sep 22, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Traits and Consequences

Nothing is said about what traits mitochondrial DNA may affect - surprising, after 10 years now. I found a reference to "Skuder, P., Plomin R., McClearn, G., Smith, D., Vignetti, S., Chorney, M., Chorney, K., Kasarda, S., Thompson, L., Detterman, D., Petrill, S., Daniels J., Owen, M., & McGuffin P. (1995). A polymorphism in mitochondrial DNA associated with IQ? Intelligence, 21, pages 1-12" but was unable to Google other results or traits. (See [1] )

Such traits could have far-reaching consequences. For example, if higher intelligence were linked to mitochondrial DNA, then the plight of women in male-dominated societies would be improved because the way to determine a woman's intelligence is to educate her. (It wouldn't result in one woman being educated and then her sisters being turned into baby mills because regular DNA undoubtedly also plays a role in intelligence.) Simesa 05:12, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] More Cleanup

It looks like this article hasn't been touched lately. It definately needs some work. Was this really a featured article at one point? I would say that it should NOT be merged with mitochondrial genetics, but some of the info on that article should be here and not there. Hichris 23:36, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

I just checked and it looks like this article was mentioned in a Featured article, but doesn't look like it was one itself. If no one objects in the next few days I'll remove the tags. Hichris 23:39, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Article not to be merged w/ mitochondrial genetics!

I think it would be wise not to merge the articles as mitochondrial genetics is already long, and because so far both articles are limited to human mitochondria and that mitochondrion are much more diverse than that. keeping them separate could alow for an overview of the diversity of mitochondria genomes among species.(specially plants...) AlvarezL 15 Dec 2005

There's a lot of duplicacy and irrelevant material in both. Would you like to help? JFW | T@lk 13:33, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

I agree it is rather a case for clean up and sorting info between the two articles than merging. / Habj 17:19, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

It seems "mitochondrial DNA" works as a search term, turns up this article, but not "mitochondrial genetics". This being so, it seems to me sensible to keep the two articles separate but to have them linked? --64.105.73.40 15:26, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] References

I think all references should be made into

<ref></ref>

--Brazucs 00:07, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Conceptus

The original sentance in the opening read, "Virtually 100% of the mtDNA contribution to a conceptus is inherited from the mother." I changed conceptus to zygote, but I was wondering if anyone knew about the origin of the term. Is the word used to try and anthropomorphize a zygote, making it a being instead of a collection of cells for pro-life purposes? Leave me a message if you know; I'm curious if that is the goal. Terry 01:55, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

I don't know who put it there, but conceptus is just a more general term for anywhere between zygote and birth. It may actually be better to leave out a term at all i.e, "Nearly 100% of mtDNA is inherited maternally." Hichris 20:51, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Deleted and Overwritten Information

Under Paragraph: Origin of mitochondrial DNA Sentence: These two cells are thought to have then entered (ed. ***something's missing here***) forming the first organelle. Oct 10, 2006 11:27