Identification on commercialized products of AFLP markers able to discriminate slow- from fast-growing chicken strains.
The European chicken meat market is characterized by numerous quality marks: "Label de Qualité Wallon" in Belgium, "Label Rouge" in France, denominations of geographical origin, organic agriculture, etc. Most of those certified productions have specifications requiring the use of slow-growing chicken strains. The amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) technique has been used to search molecular markers able to discriminate slow-growing chicken strains from fast-growing ones and to authenticate certified products. Two pairs of restriction enzymes (EcoRI/MseI and EcoRI/TaqI) and 121 selective primer combinations were tested on individual DNA samples from chicken products essentially in carcass form that were ascribed as belonging to either slow- or fast-growing strains. Within the resulting fingerprints, two fragments were identified as type-strains specific markers. One primer combination gives a band (333 bp) that is specific for slow-growing chickens, and another primer pair generates a band (372 bp) that was found to be characteristic of fast-growing chickens. The two markers were isolated, cloned, and sequenced. The effectiveness and the specificity of the two interesting determinants were assessed on individuals of two well-known strains (ISA 657 and Cobb 500) and on commercialized products coming from various origins.
Fumière
Olivier
O
Département Qualité des Productions Agricoles, Centre de Recherches Agronomiques de Gembloux, 24 Chaussée de Namur, Belgium. fumiere@cra.wallonie.be
Dubois
Marc
M
Grégoire
Dimitrie
D
Théwis
André
A
Berben
Gilbert
G
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002645:Chickens / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*; D015246:Deoxyribonuclease EcoRI; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length
D015246:Deoxyribonuclease EcoRI; C055927:endodeoxyribonuclease MseI; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific; C027046:TCGA-specific type II deoxyribonucleases