Differentiation of sturgeon species by PCR-RFLP

A method for identification of sturgeon species in caviar has been develope d based on the amplification of a region of the mitochondrial genome (tRNA( Glu)/cytochrome b) using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). To distinguis h between several types of sturgeon caviar the obtained 462bp long PCR-prod ucts were cut with different restriction endonucleases (RE) resulting in sp ecies-specific restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP). The method is suitable to differentiate between 10 species of Acipenser and Huso orig inating from Europe and Asia. (C) 2000 Canadian Institute of Food Science a nd Technology. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.