The amplification and analysis of cytochrome oxidase 1 (CO1) Gene of Ornithoptera croesus from Bacan Island

Abstract

Abstract Ornithoptera croesus is one of the endemic butterflies in Bacan island. The results of previous studies stated that O croesus has genetic variation based on morphological and molecular character of RAPD. In male and female butterflies there are variations in color and body size. The purpose of this study was to amplify the CO1 gene in Ornithoptera croesus butterflies collected from Mount Sibela in Bacan Island. The method used in this study is total DNA isolated from tissue using the ZymoBiomic (Zymo Research DNA Extraction) Kit, DNA amplification using the CO1 gene, sequencing and BLASTn analysis. The results showed that the specimen was successfully amplified with an amplicon size of 500 bp. Furthermore, the results of the BLASTn analysis revealed that the sequence had a 99% similarity with O croesus NCBI in both males and females, and based on phylogenetic analysis it had a closed position. The application of CO1 DNA barcodes is effective for identifying butterflies at species level.