Chemiluminescent optical fibre genosensor for porcine meat detection

An easy, rapid and sensitive method for the detection of meat species is important to identify adulterationor fraudulent substitution in raw meats with undeclared species. We report herein the development ofan optical fibre genosensor able to detect low level of pork (Sus Scrofa) meat in mixtures of minced meatobtained by an optimized and faster DNA extraction protocol. Our approach uses highly specific andsensitive DNA capture and secondary probes designed out of the mitochondrion genome of Sus Scrofa.Once DNA capture probes were immobilized on optical fibres, we demonstrate their putative applicationas genosensors in detecting Sus Scrofa DNA in purified samples obtained first using a commercial DNAextraction kit and thereafter using our improved extraction method. Furthermore, analysis of beef (Bostaurus) minced meat samples also show that the assay can determine 1% (w/w) of Sus Scrofa DNA. Thesensitivity obtained by the optical fibre and the short time required for the results (about 2.5 h) indicatethe usefulness of the system. We envision that this genosensor may serve as a diagnostic tool for foodsample screening using a technology that is accurate, simple to perform and has the potential to be usedin portable format.