Detection of novel polymorphisms in the mitochondrial DNA D-Loop hypervariable region HVI from 400 healthy unrelated individuals from central and North-central Iraq

Abstract

The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is a small circular genome located within the mitochondria in the cytoplasm of the cell and a smaller 1.2 kilobase pair fragment, called the control region (D-loop). The aims of this research were to study this region by using the Sanger sequencing technique and establish
the degree of variation characteristic of a fragment. FTA® Technology (FTA™ paper DNA extraction) was utilized to extract DNA. PCR products were purified by EZ-10 spin column then sequenced and detected by using the ABI 3730xL DNA Analyzer. Novel polymorphisms discovered at positions 16037, 16075, 16104 and 16201 in future may be suitable sources for identification purpose.

Key words: D-loop, frequency, north-central Iraq, mitochondrial DNA,  polymorphism.