An inconclusive result could occur even if a sample (most commonly a hair) has actually come from the known person to whom it is compared. This is because a mutational change might have occurred during the lifetime of a single hair to yield an mtDNA sequence that is one nucleotide different from the other hairs, blood, or cheek cells from that person. Although an inconclusive interpretation could result in a false exclusion, it cannot result in a false failure to exclude. Fortunately, inconclusive outcomes are rare.

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