Answer and Explanation
COI gene which is cytochrome oxidase which is mitochodrially encoded is a protein that in human is encoded by the MT-CO1 gene. It is the main sub unit of the cytochrome c oxidase complex.
In order for the CO1 gene to be useful for distinguishing among the different salmon species:
- The COI gene must be conserved enough that the sequences can be aligned for comparison.
- The COI gene must be variable enough that there are at least a few differences between each salmon species.
- The COI gene must be conserved enough that the same PCR primers work for all the species being tested.