Abstract
Waxy sorghum has greater economic value than wild sorghum in relation to their use in food processing and the brewing industry. Thus, the authentication of the waxy sorghum species is an important issue. Herein, a rapid and sensitive Authentication Amplification Refractory Mutation System-PCR (aARMS-PCR) method was employed to identify sorghum species via its ability to resolve single-nucleotide in genes. As a proof of concept, we chose a species of waxy sorghum containing the wxc mutation which is abundantly used in liquor brewing. The aARMS-PCR can distinguish non-wxc sorghum from wxc sorghum to guarantee identification of specific waxy sorghum species. It allowed to detect as low as 1% non-wxc sorghum in sorghum mixtures, which ar one of the most sensitive tools for food authentication. Due to its ability for resolving genes with single-nucleotide resolution and high sensitivity, aARMS-PCR may have wider applicability in monitoring food adulteration, offering a rapid food authenticity verification in the control of adulteration.
Highlights
Sorghum is the fifth largest cereal crop in the world
The choice of sorghum species is based on the fact that waxy sorghum improved the digestibility of starch and protein, in contrast to wild sorghum [1,2]
The prominent feature of aARMS-PCR lies in its ability to quantitatively detect known mutations with high specificity
Summary
Sorghum is the fifth largest cereal crop in the world. It is the main food crop in Africa and the raw material for many famous liquor companies in Southwest China. The wxc allele had a G deletion at the 50 splicing site of the ninth intron, and the wxd allele had a G to C mutation at the 30 splicing site of the tenth intron These single-nucleotide variants can be used as molecular markers to identify different sorghum species genetically. Some work used PCR to identify different waxy sorghum [19,20] They cannot resolve a single nucleotide in gene sequences which often occur in different species of sorghum. The aARMS-PCR can distinguish non-wxc sorghum from wxc sorghum to guarantee the identification of specific waxy sorghum species It allowed to detect as low as 1% non-wxc sorghum in sorghum mixtures, which are one of the most sensitive tools for food authentication. The aARMS-PCR would find wide applicability in food adulteration considering its ability to resolve genes with singlenucleotide resolution and high sensitivity [22,23]
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