Automated DNA Extraction and Species Analysis from Cheese Application Note · InnuPure C16 touch, qTOWER3

Introduction

People are more and more aware of the fact that nutrition has a significant impact on the overall quality of life. Additionally, food scandals of the recent past even sharpened this awareness. For those reasons, customers expect stringent and reliable controls of the ingredients used for food production. Some of these controls (e.g. species identification, allergen identification, halal testing) can be performed using molecular biological methods. The general workflow for molecular biological analysis consists of nucleic acid extraction from sample material followed by quality analysis (e.g. by photometry) and a diagnostic assay mostly based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The extraction of nucleic acids from food is challenging due to extensive processing and usage of additives. As soon as nucleic acids are extracted the analysis is dependent on sufficient quantity and quality of DNA and the availability of an assay to detect the parameter of interest, e.g. for species identification.

Herein we describe extraction of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) using InnuPure® C16 touch with innuPREP Food DNA Kit-IPC16 specifically developed for extraction of DNA from processed food. After quality control using ScanDrop® 250 and CHIPCUVETTE®, extracted DNA is analyzed for the presence of sheep-, goat- and cow-specific genes using innuDETECT Cheese Assay and qTOWER3 G (qPCR) system. The workflow for food quality control presented here allows automated extraction of up to 16 food samples in parallel. This enables medium sample throughput with a minimum hands-on time and manual operations. Downstream analysis includes parallel detection of DNA quantity and quality with CHIPCUVETTE® microfluidic system and species analysis with highly specific and sensitive qPCR.