title: Changes of DNA quality and meat physicochemical properties in bovine supraspinatus muscle during microwave heating.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The responses of foods to microwave exposure are usually evaluated only in terms of physicochemical properties, thus undervaluing the importance of DNA in an authentication process by methods based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In this study, the time effect of microwave heating on some meat physicochemical properties and DNA quality has been investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cooking loss, instrumental colour, pH and other physicochemical parameters varied significantly during microwave cooking, reaching the lowest/highest values after 2.5 min of cooking. The exposure of meat to microwaves was found to affect characteristically the quality of extracted DNA (i.e. yield, purity and degradation). PCR products of both mitochondrial and nuclear regions were successfully observed in all samples. However, the band for large fragments became progressively fainter as treatment time increased.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Microwave heating caused physicochemical changes in bovine supraspinatus muscle and influenced characteristically the yield and integrity of the extracted DNA, indicating that an accurate DNA quantification and a rational choice of the genes (i.e. mtDNA versus nDNA, fragment size, etc.) to be amplified are fundamental in an authentication process by PCR-based methods.
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Musto
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Faraone
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cellini
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Musto
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001415:Back; D002417:Cattle; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects; D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D003296:Cooking; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects*; D053938:DNA Fragmentation / Q000528:radiation effects; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects; D063427:Food Quality; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008460:Meat / Q000032:analysis / Q000528:radiation effects*; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D008872:Microwaves / Q000009:adverse effects; D008931:Mitochondria, Muscle / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000528:radiation effects*; D010858:Pigmentation / Q000528:radiation effects; D012782:Shoulder; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D004247:DNA