Differentiation of sturgeon caviar by single strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) analysis

Abstract

Two fragments of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene were analysed by PCR-SSCP to differentiate sturgeon caviar. Amplicons of 116, respectively 123, nucleotides were transformed into single strand DNA, separated by native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and visualised by silver staining. Several combinations of gel and buffer types were tested. Species specific patterns of single strand DNA were obtained for beluga-, osietra-, and sevruga-caviar.