The use of restriction endonucleases to compare mitochondrial dna sequences in Mus musculus: A detailed restriction map of mitochondrial DNA from mouse L cells

The complete mitochondrial genome of a chloramphenicol-resistant, oligomycin-resistant mouse L cell has been cloned in E. coli. Using fragments of this DNA, purified by preparative agarose gel electrophoresis, we have mapped 139 restriction sites cleaved by 15 endonucleases. We have then compared the positions of these sites with those found in mtDNA purified from several other L-cell lines, from the tissue of several strains of laboratory mice, and from a plasmid containing mtDNA of a single, wild Mus musculus sample. The results indicate that all of the L-cell mtDNAs are identical except at a single EcoRI site, and that the L-cell sequence is identical to that found in mtDNA from normal tissue. They also suggest that mtDNA sequences found in North American Mus musculus populations may be much more homogeneous than expected from analysis of other rodents.