[Proceedings of human mitochondrial DNA study and its applications to forensic medicine]

The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is a small circular genome located within the mitochondria in the cytoplasm of the cell. Evidence of its existence first arose over 30 years ago. Now the field of the mitochondria is one of the fastest growing disciplines in biomedicine which is driven by fundamentally interesting questions. These questions are mainly about the way of mitochondria evolving and energy producing. In addition, what the consequences of mitochondrial genome mutations in diseases are? How program cell death is regulated? What happens to mitochondria when aging? These questions remain to be answered and the basic understanding of them will contribute to anthropological and forensic analysis, as well as therapy of many diseases. The following review has brought this question to notice by summarizing recent mitochondria research.