Cattle breed traceability in meat and cheese using dna polymorphisms detected by the snapshot method

Breed identification of animal products is a fundamental tool used to control food quality, add value to regional products and exploit local breeds as well as prevent food adulteration. Myostatin (MSTN) and Melanocortin I Receptor (MC1R) are ideal candidate genes for molecular breed traceability of cattle because of their breed-specific variability. A novel method based on primer extension (SNaPshot) was successfully used for the MSTN and MC1R genotyping of eight bovine breeds. A total of 114 samples from hair bulb and cheese were analyzed. The results obtained allowed the breeds to be identified and results were confirmed by PCR-RFLP and DNA sequencing. The proposed SNaPshot method provides rapid throughput analysis from highly fragmented DNA of processed foods from animals, such as cheese