Editing Mitochondrial DNA (section)

== mtDNA in nuclear DNA ==
[[Whole genome sequencing|Whole genome sequences]] of more than 66,000 people revealed that most of them had some mitochondrial DNA inserted into their [[Cell nucleus|nuclear]] [[genome]]s. More than 90% of these nuclear-mitochondrial segments ([[NUMT]]s) were inserted after humans diverged from the other [[ape]]s. Results indicate such transfers currently occur as frequently as once in every ≈4,000 human births.<ref>{{Cite journal |display-authors=6 |vauthors=Wei W, Schon KR, Elgar G, Orioli A, Tanguy M, Giess A, Tischkowitz M, Caulfield MJ, Chinnery PF |date=November 2022 |title=Nuclear-embedded mitochondrial DNA sequences in 66,083 human genomes |journal=Nature |volume=611 |issue=7934 |pages=105–114 |bibcode=2022Natur.611..105W |doi=10.1038/s41586-022-05288-7 |pmc=9630118 |pmid=36198798}}</ref>

It appears that [[Organelle|organellar]] DNA is much more often transferred to nuclear DNA than previously thought. This observation also supports the idea of the [[Symbiogenesis|endosymbiont theory]] that [[eukaryote]]s have evolved from [[endosymbiont]]s which turned into organelles while transferring most of their DNA to the nucleus so that the organellar genome shrunk in the process.<ref>{{Cite journal |display-authors=6 |vauthors=Wei W, Schon KR, Elgar G, Orioli A, Tanguy M, Giess A, Tischkowitz M, Caulfield MJ, Chinnery PF |date=November 2022 |title=Nuclear-embedded mitochondrial DNA sequences in 66,083 human genomes |journal=Nature |volume=611 |issue=7934 |pages=105–114 |bibcode=2022Natur.611..105W |doi=10.1038/s41586-022-05288-7 |pmc=9630118 |pmid=36198798 |doi-access=free}}</ref>