“The resilience of the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) to a high mutational pressure depends, in part, on negative purifying selection in the germline. A paradigm in the field has been that such selection, at least in part, takes place in primordial germ cells (PGCs). Specifically, Floros et al. (Nature Cell Biology 20: 144-51) reported an increase in the synonymity of mtDNA mutations (a sign of purifying selection) between early-stage and late-stage PGCs. We re-analyzed Floros’ et al. data and determined that their mutational dataset was significantly contaminated with single nucleotide variants.”

Find the paper and full list of authors in Mitochondrion.