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How many genes are found in human mitochondrial DNA?

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Fluorescent confocal image of HeLa cells with green microtubules outlining cell shapes, red mitochondria, and blue nuclei. — mitochondrion Mitochondria (red) are found throughout the cytoplasm of almost all eukaryotic cells (cell nucleus is shown in blue; cytoskeleton is shown in yellow).

The human mitochondrial genome contains 37 genes. Of these, 13 are responsible for producing various components of the electron transport chain, which is essential for the mitochondrion's primary function of generating energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate.1