NIJ Training Course for Forensic DNA Officers of the Court: Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) Analysis of Maternal Inheritance Patterns

In this example we'll see how a mother's mtDNA  is passed from one generation to the next.  The mother is designated in red  and the father in dark blue.

Each child will inherit the mother's mtDNA  the passing of the mtDNA from mother to child is  shown by the corresponding color of each child.

Because egg cells contain  mitochondria and sperm cells do not,  only the mother's mtDNA is passed to the  next generation; the father's mtDNA is not.

In this example, the fourth generation shares  the mtDNA type with the first generation.