Species identification in meat products: A new screening method based on high resolution melting analysis of cyt b gene

• Published in: Food chemistry Vol. 237; pp. 701 - 706
• Main Authors: Lopez-Oceja, A., Nuñez, C., Baeta, M., Gamarra, D., de Pancorbo, M.M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 15.12.2017
• Subjects: adulterated products; Animals; cattle; chickens; Coturnix; Coturnix coturnix; Cytochrome B; Cytochromes b - genetics; DNA; DNA Primers; genes; High resolution melting; Horses; Meat; Meat Products; Meleagris gallopavo; melting; Mitochondrial DNA; Oryctolagus cuniculus; screening; sheep; Species identification; swine; traceability; Transition Temperature; High resolution melting; Mitochondrial DNA; Cytochrome B; Species identification
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2017.06.004

•Meat species identification is an important issue due to food adulteration.•The cyt b 148 bp universal primer used is capable to identify all the species analized.•Eight meat species have been identified by rtPCR and HRM profiles.•Five meat mixtures have been identified and approximate DNA percentages are shown. Meat adulteration by substitution with lower value products and/or mislabeling involves economic, health, quality and socio-religious issues. Therefore, identification and traceability of meat species has become an important subject to detect possible fraudulent practices. In the present study the development of a high resolution melt (HRM) screening method for the identification of eight common meat species is reported. Samples from Bos taurus, Ovis aries, Sus scrofa domestica, Equus caballus, Oryctolagus cuniculus, Gallus gallus domesticus, Meleagris gallopavo and Coturnix coturnix were analyzed through the amplification of a 148 bp fragment from the cyt b gene with a universal primer pair in HRM analyses. Melting profiles from each species, as well as from several DNA mixtures of these species and blind samples, allowed a successful species differentiation. The results demonstrated that the HRM method here proposed is a fast, reliable, and low-cost screening technique.