Homoplasmy

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Homoplasmy is the presence of a mutation affecting all of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copies in a cell. Since there are hundreds or even thousands of mtDNA copies in every eukaryotic cell, mutations may either be present in all copies (homoplasmy) or affect only a fraction of them (heteroplasmy).

See also microheteroplasmy.

Homeoplasmy = a state in which all the mitochondria of a cell or a tissue have the same genome, which may be either the wild type genome or a mutated one.

Homoplasmy may also refer to the presence of mutation, or insertion of a foreign gene, into all of the plant plastid organelles DNA e.g. all of the chloroplasts