Abstract:
High resolution melting analysis (HRMA) has been considered as a high potential technique for rapid and specific identifying the living organisms based on the characteristics of melting temperature (Tm), which are specific to their DNA profiles. Hence, this research was aimed to develop the multiplex HRMA technique for detecting the contamination of 6 forbidden animals in halal foods consisting of pigs, dogs, rats, cats, monkeys, and donkeys from standard DNA and commercial products. First, selection and primer design were conducted on mitochondrial gene which represents a high specificity to 6 targeted animals. Then, specificity, sensitivity and reliability tests of the designated primers were evaluated both of Singleplex and Multiplex HRMA. The results showed that the primers had a high specificity for identifying the targeted forbidden animals with 100% accuracy. For the sensitivity test, it demonstrated that the limit of detection of this technique was sensitive down to 0.02 ng, except that of pig identification (0.002 ng). Moreover, the melting peak and Tm of HRM profile of the targeted animals produced uniquely different plots that were easily distinguished for each species in this study. For reliability, the artificial meat balls (10 % and 1 % with forbidden animal meats) and commercial products contained with beef and other forbidden meats were tested. It also found that this technique could be used to detect the aforementioned animals with 100% accuracy. In order to carry out the analysis of commercial food products, 260 products of Thailand were used to screen by multiplex HRMA. This method revealed that two samples were contaminated with pigs DNA in the examined products. Therefore, the HRMA could be used as a high-potential technique for detecting the forbidden animals contaminated in foods and representing the quality assurance of Islamic consumers. To the best our knowledge, this is the first report of successful application of multiplex HRMA for detecting the forbidden animal in Thailands halal industries.