Differentiation of fish species by PCR-based DNA analysis of nuclear genes

Abstract

Food control laboratories are confronted with new challenges in respect to fishery product authentication; examples are identification of hybrids (e.g. in case of catfish, tilapia, sturgeon, snapper) and assignment of fish to certified stocks. Against this background, differentiation of fish species and populations by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)–based DNA analysis of nuclear genes has become of considerable importance as a tool for the completion of mitochondrial gene analysis. Four applications of nuclear gene analysis are presented: (1) fish species identification using the intronless rhodopsin RH1 gene; (2) detection of “fish” as an allergenic foodstuff by means of universal primers amplifying a segment of a parvalbumin gene; (3) differentiation of cod (Gadus morhua) from various fishing grounds by exon-primed intron-crossing PCR of a parvalbumin gene intron; (4) detection of hybridization between North Atlantic redfish species (genus: Sebastes) by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of amplicons obtained from the second intron of the 7S ribosomal protein gene.