Mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA was discovered in the 1960s by Margit M. K. Nass and Sylvan Nass by electron microscopy as DNase-sensitive threads inside mitochondria, and by Ellen Haslbrunner, Hans Tuppy and Gottfried Schatz by biochemical assays on highly purified mitochondrial fractions.
Mitophagy
Mitophagy in yeast was first presumed after the discovery of Yeast Mitochondrial Escape genes (yme), specifically yme1. Yme1 like other genes in the family showed increase escapes of mtDNA, but was the only one that showed in increase in mitochondrial degradation. Through work on this gene that mediates the escape of mtDNA, researchers discovered that mitochondrial turnover is triggered by proteins.