Certain structures, such as hip bones in whales now have little or no function for this species. How would scientists, such as Darwin, explain why this may have happened?

a) Speciation has caused the organism to become a new species.
b) The inherited structure is Vestigial and are no longer beneficial to the organism.
c) Mutations have caused the organism to experience DNA changes.
d) Natural Selection have caused the structure to be over utilized by the organism.

Part a - which gene to compare? in this exercise, you will use the cytochrome c oxidase i (coi) gene to investigate relationships among salmon species. (this gene encodes a protein that functions in the mitochondrial electron transport chain.) you will compare the coi gene sequences from your salmon test samples to the standard sequences for each salmon species. in order for the coi gene to be useful for distinguishing among the different salmon species, which three statements must be true?