DNA Fingerprinting to Track
Caviar
Identifying sturgeon DNA sequences would allow scientists to determine which species produced any given sample of caviar.
References:
Birstein, V.J. . . . R. DeSalle. 1998. Population aggregation analysis of three caviar-producing species of sturgeons and implications for the species identification of black caviar. Conservation Biology 12(August):766.
Further Readings:
Chen, I.-C, et al. 1996. Preliminary studies on SDS-PAGE and isoelectric focusing identification of sturgeon sources of caviar. Journal of Food Science 61:533.
______. 1995. Differentiation of cultured and wild sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi) based on fatty acid composition. Journal of Food Science 60:631.
DeSalle, R., and V. Birstein. 1996. PCR identification of black caviar. Nature 381(May 16):197.
Information on the IUCN World Conservation Unions Sturgeon Specialist Group is available at http://www.sturgeons.com.
Information about the National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory is available at http://www.lab.fws.gov.
Sources:
Vadim J. Birstein
The Sturgeon Society
331 W. 57th Street, Suite 159
New York, NY 10019Frank A. Chapman
University of Florida
Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
P.O. Box 110600
Gainesville, FL 32611-0600Stephen R. Fain
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory
1490 E. Main Street
Ashland, OR 97520
8/22/98
copyright 1998 ScienceService