All kidding aside, what can mtDNA do for you? Well, it can help you find an unknown mother for your ancestor. Or if you’re not sure of your female origin it can provide that.
Mitochondrial DNA is pass on a bit differently. First of all, the mother passes her mtDNA to all her children. However, only the females can pass on to the next generation. So in other words it will provide you with your maternal direct line. As women changed their names when they married, you will have have your genetic connection but not necessarily a surname connection.
One thing I do know is if you have had a mtDNA test done and an Autosomal DNA test done and you have an exact match on the mtDNA and you match that same person on Family Finder this can then indicated that you may have a direct maternal line connection within six generations.
The other thing I know is that it will provide the origin for your maternal line and we are talking 60-70 thousand years ago.
Finally I do know that if you don’t have a lot of matches this may seem disappointing but it can actually help you. Having a rare mtDNA profile makes the matches more valuable.
As I’ve said before… I’m by no means an expert but I’ve tried my best to read as much as possible about DNA. Some of the information I’ve passed along can be found on guides written by Diahan Southard which are available (sorry for the plug) at Shop the Hound my e-store site.