Question

Mitochondrial dna can be taken from bone, hair, or teeth and used in dna typing. what are the benefits to using mitochondrial dna over nuclear dna?

Answer 1

mtDNA requires a much smaller sample than nuclear DNA

mtDNA is useful if the nuclear DNA is degraded

mtDNA is present in all material relatives of the person being investigated

Answer 2

Degraded mitochondrial DNA can  be used successfully for anlaysis, this is not so with nuclear DNA. Family members from the same maternal source has identical mitochondrial DNA, so in cases of missing persons, sample mitochondrial DNA can be collected from maternal relatives for identification.