Varietal traceability of bread ‘Pane Nero di Castelvetrano’ by denaturing high pressure liquid chromatography analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms

Abstract

DNA-based traceability is a very powerful tool to allow the identification of genetic material along the food production chain. In particular, it is able to verify the presence of a certain cultivar in order to meet the quality claims of local and certified products, or to detect any adulteration or contamination. The aim of this work was to apply the Denaturing High Performance Liquid Chromatography (DHPLC) technique for setting up a Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP)-based method to achieve the varietal traceability of the durum wheat cultivar ‘Timilia’ in the ‘Pane Nero di Castelvetrano’ (Castelvetrano Black Bread) Slow Food Presidium. The DHPLC technique was optimized using 20 SNPs (8 transitions and 12 transversions) for both the starting whole meals and the corresponding breads, giving comparable results represented by an amount of detectable Timilia cv. ranging from 2.5% to 60% or more, thus providing an efficient tool to trace such cultivar in bread claimed to be Pane Nero di Castelvetrano. The obtained results represent the first application of DHPLC in the field of food science, and will help to preserve the authenticity of Pane Nero di Castelvetrano.