Premium
Identification of highly prized commercial fish using a PCR‐based methodology
Author(s) -
Morán Paloma,
GarciaVazquez Eva
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
biochemistry and molecular biology education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.34
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1539-3429
pISSN - 1470-8175
DOI - 10.1002/bmb.2006.49403402121
Subject(s) - fish <actinopterygii> , dna extraction , biology , traceability , identification (biology) , computational biology , food science , polymerase chain reaction , chromatography , gene , computer science , fishery , genetics , chemistry , ecology , software engineering
We report a practical class designed for undergraduate students of Marine Sciences as a part of the Genetics course. The class can also be included in undergraduate studies of food technology. The exercise was designed to emphasize the application of molecular biology techniques to fish species authentication and traceability. After a simple and rapid protocol for DNA extraction, PCR was used to analyze variation in size of individual 5S ribosomal gene spacer sequences in eight commercially important fishes. The resulting fragments containing these sequences were separated on agarose gels and visualized under a UV lamp. Differences in fragment length can be used to differentiate between species. This method is particularly useful in the identification of larvae, eggs, and processed food including frozen and canned products.