Irish_Eyes
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How certain are they that she is not the mother? mDNA does go through mutations
Right you are, but here's my guess: The reason mtDNA is so useful is that the mutations are rare.
If the adult female had one mutation that differed her mtDNA from her own mother's, likely it would still indicate they were closely related. All her children would then inherit her "mutated" mtDNA, so they would be a perfect match to her. If the mutation occurred during cell replication in one of her children, the odds that the same mutation would occur at the same place on the DNA "chromosome" in all the children are so astronomical as to be impossible. So even if one of the children had a mutation, the other children likely would not.
My guess is that the related children have a mutation that she does not have, but are otherwise very closely related to her mtDNA line. Since she does not have the mutation it would rule her out as being their mother, but not a close maternal relative. I think I explained that right, in laymen's terms anyway.