Nuclear DNA the bases are held together by hydrogen bonds. Nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA differ in many ways, starting with location and structure. Nuclear DNA is located within the nucleus of eukaryote cells and usually has two copies per cell while mitochondrial DNA is located in the mitochondria and contains 100-1,000 copies per cell. The structure of nuclear DNA chromosomes is linear with open ends and includes 46 chromosomes containing 3 billion nucleotides. Mitochondrial DNA chromosomes usually have closed, circular structures, and contain for example 16,569 nucleotides in human. Nuclear DNA is diploid, ordinarily inheriting the DNA from two parents, while
Cell-free fetal DNA the fetal DNA is based on physical length of DNA fragments. Smaller fragments can represent up to seventy percent of the total cell free DNA in the maternal blood sample. In real-time PCR, fluorescent probes are used to monitor the accumulation of amplicons. The reporter fluorescent signal is proportional to the number of amplicons generated. The most appropriate real time PCR protocol is designed according to the particular mutation or genotype to be detected. Point mutations are analysed with qualitative real time PCR with the use of allele specific probes. insertions and deletions are analyzed by dosage measurements using quantitative