title: [Heteroplasmy in human mtDNA control region].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To observe the length heteroplasmy and point heteroplasmy in human mtDNA control region.
  
  
  METHODS
  The peripheral blood, buccal cell, and single hair shaft from 50 individuals and 16 family members, related in their maternallineage were analyzed by direct sequencing, and clones from 20 individuals whose mtDNA sequences have a T-C transition at 16189 nt were sequenced.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No point heteroplasmy were observed in peripheral blood, buccal cell, single hair shaft from the same individual, neither in maternally related individuals. Length heteroplasmy was observed in those individuals with a homopolymeric tract and the different clones from the same individual has different proportions of length variants, but the hair shafts from the same individual were very similar to the measurements made from blood DNA. No length heteroplasmy was observed between different tissues from the same individual.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  mtDNA sequences have a characteristic of high consistency and genetic stability, mtDNA sequencing is a suitable tool for forensic applications such as individual identification.
authors.affiliation: Division of the Criminal Investigation Department, Jiangsu Provincial Public Security Bureau, Nangjing 210024, China. yangcaocq@yahoo.com.cn
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Li-Hua
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.forename: Lin-Gang
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Ying-Xue
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Cong-Xian
authors.initials: CX
authors.lastname: Xiu
authors.forename: Shu-Hui
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Can
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mi
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics*; D004847:Epithelial Cells; D018740:Genetic Heterogeneity; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D009055:Mouth / Q000166:cytology; D017354:Point Mutation; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial