How is mitochondrial dna (mtdna) typing used in forensic science?

An unknown mtDNA sample is matched to a sample of nuclear DNA that was found at a crime scene.

Mitochondrial DNA typing is a method used by forensic scientists which match the DNA of unknown sample to the sample collected from the crime scene.

This typing method posses several advantages over other nuclear DNA typing methods in forensic science as:

A large copy number of DNA (2-10 times) per mitochondria provide enough DNA sample.  Depending on the functions, a cell can have many mitochondria (1-100) which can provide enough sample for typing. No recombination takes place in mitochondrial DNA so DNA sample remains unchanged over many generations. So, the sample can be matched easily with the relatives of the unknown sample. Mitochondria show only maternal inheritance that they take DNA from mitochondria of the mother. DNA is amplified using Polymerase chain reaction which undergoes direct sequencing.

Thus, mitochondrial DNA typing has several advantages in forensic science.

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