Question

Investigator Clayton is called to the scene of a crime. A young woman has been murdered in her apartment. Several hairs are found on the victim's jacket, but they do not have

follicular tissue or a root attached. Police suspect Travis, the young woman's neighbor, of the crime. Investigators can only try to analyze for mitochondrial DNA. The
mitochondrial DNA matches Travis but who else could it match?
The apartment super who just moved from Italy
Travis's mother, who lives with him
Travis's father, who works at night
Travis's uncle, his father's brother

Answer 1

The correct option is A) Travis's mother, who lives with him

Step-by-step explanation:

We all know that humans reproduce sexually. The zygote formed consists half of the chromosomes or genome from the mother and half from the father. Hence, the sex cells undergo meiosis so that the chromosome number could be reduced to half in the sex cells.

However, the mitochondria present in a cell have their own DNA and instead of both parents being transferring this DNA, the mitochondrial DNA is just transferred by the mother to the offsprings. Hence, the mitochondrial DNA of mother and child will be the same.