Mitochondrial DNA: The Tracking Tool to Investigate Population Genetic History

Abstract

As a result of several unique properties of human mitochondrial DNA, including maternal inheritance, lack of recombination and high mutation rate, mtDNA had become widely utilized for studying human evolution, migration and population history. Here this article reviews the approaches of studying mtDNA variation as well as earlier reports of mtDNA studies which answered the questions about genetic structure and human population history in Thailand. In the past decade, almost previous mtDNA studies in Thai populations had been pivoted in Northern Thailand, however, mtDNA examination should be extended to populations from the other regions of Thailand particularly in the Northeast which harbors cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity. Moreover, other studies of population genetics using genetic markers with different modes of inheritance, like autosomal DNA and Y-chromosome, are needed to gain a deeper understanding genetic ancestry of various populations in Thailand.