Mitochondrial chromosome

the DNA component of mitochondria whose chief function is to encode enzymes for the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate and the management of cellular energy

Description
The mitochondrial chromosome contains some 16,000 base pairs arranged in a circle and is evidence of endosymbiosis as the the source of eukaryotic mitochondria, with many of the original genes of the endosymbiont having been made redundant by nuclear-encoded and imported host proteins. The inheritance is matrilineal, as mitochondria are not transferred with the strongly reduced cytosol of sperm cells but with the much larger oocyte. The mutation rate is unusually high, since each cell contains thousands of copies, so that the mitochondrial chromosomse can be used for the sensitive detection of phylogenesis.