Qi Wang ^a, Xin Zhang ^a, Hui-Yuan Zhang ^a, Jie Zhang ^a, Guang-Quan Chen ^a, Da-He Zhao ^b, Hai-Ping Ma ^b, Wan-Jin Liao ^{b, *}

a Beijing Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, No. 6 Tianshuiyuan Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100026, China

b State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology and MOE Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China

ABSTRACT: The verification of authenticity of meat products is relevant for economical, religious or public health concerning reasons. A molecular approach using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) was developed to distinguish 12 common economically important meat species. The partial 12S rRNA gene was amplified with double-fluorescently labeled primers. The amplified fragments were digested with two endonucleases and only the terminal restriction fragment containing labeled primer was detected on capillary electrophoresis system ABI3100. Alul and Tru9l generated differently-sized terminal fragments in different species. Pig and buffalo can be separated by 3'-terminal fragment of Alul digestion. Horse. turkey, goat, sheep, deer, and cattle can be further separated by 5'-terminal fragment of Tru9l digestion. Dog and chicken, sturgeon and salmon can finally be separated by 5'-terminal fragment of Alul digestion and 3'-terminal fragment of Tru9l digestion. Our results demonstrated the potential feasibility and applicability of T-RFLP method for rapid and accurate identification of animal species. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

KEYWORD：Species identification, T-RFLP, Mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene