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Abstract
Nuclear copies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have contaminated PCR-based mitochondrial
studies of over 64 different animal species. Since the last review of these nuclear
mitochondrial pseudogenes (Numts) in animals, Numts have been found in 53 of the species
studied. The recent evidence suggests that Numts are not equally abundant in all species,
for example they are more common in plants than in animals, and also more numerous
in humans than in Drosophila. Methods for avoiding Numts have now been tested, and
several recent studies demonstrate the potential utility of Numt DNA sequences in
evolutionary studies. As relics of ancient mtDNA, these pseudogenes can be used to
infer ancestral states or root mitochondrial phylogenies. Where they are numerous
and selectively unconstrained, Numts are ideal for the study of spontaneous mutation
in nuclear genomes.