Mitochondrial DNA 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 the human genome to be sequenced. In
DNA laddering along with DNA laddering such as TEM and TUNEL. With recent improvements to DNA laddering, DNA laddering has become a more reliable, and reasonable technique to use when detecting apoptosis. It is also important to note that DNA laddering occurs differently depending on the type of cell, so there may be slight changes in the process of DNA laddering depending on the cell that is being investigated. DNA laddering DNA laddering is a feature that can be observed when DNA fragments, resulting from apoptotic DNA fragmentation, are visualized after separation by gel electrophoresis. It was first described in 1980 by