Mitochondrial DNA together with the assessment of their pathogenicity. Mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA or mDNA) is the DNA located in mitochondria, cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is only a small portion of the DNA in a eukaryotic cell; most of the DNA can be found in the cell nucleus and, in plants and algae, also in plastids such as chloroplasts. In humans, the 16,569 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA encode for only 37 genes. Human mitochondrial DNA was the first significant part of
Pfu DNA polymerase Pfu DNA polymerase "Pfu" DNA polymerase is an enzyme found in the hyperthermophilic archaeon "Pyrococcus furiosus", where it functions to copy the organism's DNA during cell division. In the laboratory setting, "Pfu" is used to amplify DNA in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), where the enzyme serves the central function of copying a new strand of DNA during each extension step. "Pfu" DNA polymerase has superior thermostability and proofreading properties compared to "Taq" DNA polymerase. Unlike "Taq" DNA polymerase, "Pfu" DNA polymerase possesses 3' to 5' exonuclease proofreading activity, meaning that as the DNA is assembled from the 5' end