Enhanced fish species identification by PCR-RFLP using the 2100 Bioanalyzer system

In the seafood market new regulations and an increasing number of cases involving substitution and fraud drive the need of stakeholders for a robust, easy to use and well accepted method of fish species identification. PCR-RFLP of mitochondrial target sequences has been used successfully in the past for the purpose of species identification. Issues with assay robustness due to the use of individually prepared and nonoptimized components and the manual nature of analysis potentially affect the reliability of the results. In this technical communication an optimized solution using the Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer is presented. The improved method allows analysis from sample to result in one working day and facilitates analysis by introducing a dedicated analysis software for pattern recognition and species identification.