Measuring mtDNA Mutation Rates in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Using the mtArg8 Assay

Mitochondrial mutation rates have historically been more refractory to genetic analysis than nuclear mutation rates. This is the result of the lack of auxotrophic genes in the mitochondria, the multiple (50-100) copies of mitochondrial genomes per cell (1 ), the random segregation of mitochondrial organelles during meiotic and mitotic cell division, and the apparent unequal replication of mitochondria (2 ).