Decoding Genetic Signatures for Identification: A Molecular Investigation Approach in Pakistan via Cytochrome C Oxidase I (COI) Gene Sequencing

DNA barcoding is an efficient and rapid approach to the identification of species. A standard genetic marker is used to barcode the sequence of unidentified species. So, mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) genetic marker is mostly used for species molecular identification. Therefore, molecular identification and phylogeographic relationship of Cirrhinus reba (C. reba) were carried out in the present study. In the present study, we propose the barcoding analysis of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene of freshwater fish as different sequences were obtained from the sequencer and found (all < 500) base pairs and successfully barcode with mitochondrial COI genetic marker for identification. BLAST analysis provides 100% identity match with reference sequences of GenBank database and confirmed the species as C. reba as the length of the sequence is found 496 base pairs. The present study successfully reported DNA barcoding for genetic diversity and identification contributing to covering sufficient information about molecular analysis to identify unknown species the best of our knowledge this is the first study reporting a genetic tool for identification of the commercial food fish of Pakistan. Moreover, DNA barcoding can play a very significant role in molecular identification and inference of relationships in diverse freshwater ecosystem.