Differentiation of the species ostrich ( Struthio camelus) and emu ( Dromaius novaehollandiae) by polymerase chain reaction using an ostrich-specific primer pair

Abstract

Through polymerase chain reaction a zone of the gene for the cytochrome b of ostrich (Struthio camelus) mitochondrial DNA was amplified using a primer pair which permits to identify the ostrich and differentiate it from the emu ( Dromaius novaehollandiae), thus giving different size fragment; in the ostrich of about 543 bp and in the emu of about 229 bp. This has been obtained without adopting other techniques such as, e.g., the fragment digestion by means of suitable restriction enzymes or single strand conformational polymorphism (SSCP).