ZARAMIT: a system for the evolutionary study of human mitochondrial DNA

Abstract. ZARAMIT is an information system capable of fully auto-mated phylogeny reconstruction. Methods have been tailored to mito-chondrial DNA sequences, with focus on subproblem partitioning. We have built exhaustive human mitochondrial phylogenies (∼5500 sequences) and detected problems in existing haplogroup hierarchies through data-driven classification. Information on the project can be found on zaramit.org. 1 The case for mitochondrial DNA Mitochondria, organelles present in most eukaryotic cells, are responsible for the generation of most of the cell’s chemical energy. They are also remarkable for possessing their own, separate genome, which coexists with nuclear DNA and is inherited independently. Further, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has several features which make it an ideal candidate for conducting evolutionary studies. Firstly, it is small in mammals (15000 to 17000 base pairs) and encodes a homogeneous set of gene