[Family study on mitochondrial DNA polymorphism].

Mitochondrial DNA restriction fragment length polymorphisms (mtDNA RFLPs) were surveyed among 19 Japanese families with 67 individuals including twins. A mother and children, and siblings of each family showed the same pattern of mtDNA RFLPs. Samples from Japanese war orphans remained in China and their probable relatives were also surveyed and one pair indicating a high probability to be siblings using other genetic markers possessed the same variant of mtDNA. Moreover mtDNA RFLPs was applied for maternity test among two families. The data suggested that parents mistook their children for each other at birth.