The biggest contributor of our DNA comes from our mother. Mitochondrial DNA is passed down from a mother to her child though it stores changes much more slowly than other DNAs. Mitochondrial DNA has 37 genes and of them are important for it to function normally. Though 14 of these genes are very important because they help give instructions to make enzymes that are in oxidative phosphorylation. Oxidative phosphorylation is a method to create ATP by using oxygen and simple sugars. The remaining 23 genes help give instruction to make molecules such as transfer RNA and ribosomal RNA.
