The H-strand of vertebrate mitochondrial DNA is left single-stranded for hours during the
slow DNA replication. This facilitates C→ U mutations on the H-strand (and consequently …

The strand-biased mutation spectrum in vertebrate mitochondrial genomes results in an AC-
rich L-strand and a GT-rich H-strand. Because the L-strand is the sense strand of 12 protein …

In animal mitochondria, six codons have been known as nonuniversal genetic codes, which
vary in the course of animal evolution. They are UGA (termination codon in the universal …

In most vertebrate mitochondrial genomes, the site for initiation of light-strand replication,
OL, is found within a cluster of five transfer RNA (tRNA) genes (tRNA (Trp), tRNA (Ala), tRNA …

Characteristic features of tRNA such as the anticodon sequence and modified nucleotides in
the anticodon loop are thought to be crucial effectors for promoting or restricting codon …

High mutation rate in mammalian mitochondrial DNA generates a highly divergent pool of
alleles even within species that have dispersed and expanded in size recently. Phylogenetic …

The gene organization of starfish mitochondrial DNA is identical with that of the sea urchin
counterpart except for a reported inversion of an approximately 4.6-kb segment containing …

Differential rates of nucleotide substitution among different gene segments and between
distinct evolutionary lineages is well documented among mitochondrial genes and is likely a …

Recent analyses have shown that nonsynonymous variation in human mitochondrial DNA
(mtDNA) contains nonneutral variants, suggesting the presence of mildly deleterious …

DNA replication in vertebrate mitochondria is usually directional, leaving different portions of
the genome single-stranded for different periods of time. During this time, mutations resulting …