Monitoring of GMO’s in Livestock Feeds, Feed Stuffs and Products using PCR based Micro Array

It is vital for the developing countries to regulate GMO’s with primary intention to protect consumer health, environment and at the time to reap the benefits of modern technology. Monitoring implementation of GMO regulatory frame work may be difficult in developing countries due to lack of resources and cost of post - release monitoring of GMO’s. However strategies can be planned to overcome the same. India is the one of the largest exporters of non GMO foods. Indian livestock activity has boomed into an industry and the products are being exported. With WTO implementation the food produced needs to be labelled –GMO / Non GMO food. A monitoring programme has been initiated for screening and identifying GMO’s in various livestock feeds, feedstuff and products under the aegis of Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Research Programme of DST (Government of India). The techniques are based on the detection of multiple genetic elements common to GMO by their amplification via PCR followed by direct hybridsation of the amplicons on Microarray. The experiment is composed of three sets of multiplex chain reaction (PCR) using biotinylated primers followed by hybridization of the biotinylated amplicons on one DNA Microarray. The detection of the hybridized biotinylated amplicons is performed using the silverquant colorimetric detection. The pattern of the elements is compared to a database of the composition of European/FDA approved GMO’s and identification of the GMO is then proposed. The limit of detection of the method was ? 0.1% GMO content (w/w) expressed as the amount of target DNA present in the template for single unprocessed material. The DNA targets were detected both in reference material and in mixtures with same detection limit. The protocol of sampling method (EC 1830/2003) and the results will be elaborated. The profile revealed the cotton seed cake to be positive while all the other feeds and feed stuff not detected.