Assaying Mitochondrial COI Sequences and Their Molecular Studies in Hexapoda, PART I: From 2000 to 2009

Since 2000, a large number of molecular studies have been conducted in Hexapoda with generating large amount of mitochondrial sequences. In this study, to review mitochondrial COI sequences and their molecular studies reported in Hexapoda from 2000 to 2009, 488 molecular studies conducted based on 58,323 COI sequences were categorized according to 26 orders and the positions of COI sequences (5', 3', and entire regions). The numbers of molecular studies in which the three regions utilized varied largely among the 26 orders; however, seven orders showed preferred positions of COI sequences in the researches: Diptera and Orthoptera revealed the largest number of studies in the 5' region; while, Coleoptera, Phthiraptera, Odonata, Phasmatodea, and Psocoptera, showed the largest number of studies in the 3' region. From comparing 84 molecular studies published before 2000, we observed the possibilities that molecular studies in Coleoptera, Diptera, Phthiraptera, and Phasmatodea from 2000 to 2009 had been followed classical studies using the positions of COI sequences well-known until 1999. This study provides useful information to understand the overall trends in COI sequence usages as well as molecular studies conducted from 2000 to 2009 in Hexapoda.