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? mtdna requires a much smaller sample than nuclear dna. mtdna is useful if the nuclear dna is degraded. mtdna is inherited from the mother and father’s egg cells, unlike nuclear dna. mtdna is present in all maternal relatives of the person being investigated.