Using PCR-RFLP Assay of mt 12S rRNA Gene to Identify Chicken and Turkey Meat Species

Abstract

This research aimed to identify chicken and turkey meat species by applying PCR-RFLP technique and to evaluate the conformity of raw and cooked meats in the Syrian markets. Eight samples of raw and cooked meat samples named as chicken and eight samples of raw and cooked meat samples named as turkey were randomly collected.

Total DNA was extracted, and a segment of mt 12SrDNA gene was amplified using universal primers. All samples yielded one band of

approximate length ~490bp. The amplification products were digested by applying five restriction enzymes of type II:  ApoI, AluI, HhaI, MspI & BspTI. The restriction patterns of the samples were compared with restriction patterns of reference samples served as positive controls.

The results show that all samples named as chicken meat and all samples named as turkey meat were chicken.

PCR-RFLP technique has been, therefore, demonstrated to be a sensitive, highly reproducible, and comparatively less costly technique for meat source identification, so we can invest this technique in the routine tests.