Forensic scientists can match missing persons and their families by matching maternal DNA to the missing individual. Which type of DNA technology is used for this purpose?

Mitochondrial DNA is inherited from the mother, so a missing person’s mtDNA can be compared with mtDNA from maternal relatives. This makes mtDNA analysis the appropriate technology. Y-chromosome analysis follows the paternal line, while PCR and STRs are not specifically based on maternal inheritance.

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