Lee James Chun-I, Tsai Li-Chin, Liao Shu-Ping, Linacre Adrian, Hsieh Hsing-Mei
Department of Forensic Medicine, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, No.1 Jen-Ai Road Section 1, Taipei 10051, Taiwan, ROC.
Forensic Sci Int Genet. 2009 Mar;3(2):67-73. doi: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2008.10.005. Epub 2008 Nov 28.
Turtle shells and their gelled products are familiar in some countries as foods, tonics and medicines. These shells may come from endangered and protected species, requiring the identification of the species present to enforce national and international legislation. We report on the design of five combinations of primer pairs for the identification of turtle shells and shell fragments used as ornaments, food products and medicines. The types of samples used are those encountered frequently and will typically contain highly degraded DNA. The success rate for species identification using the test described is dependent upon the choice of primer sets used and the length of the expected amplification product. Gelled products were simulated by the process of decoction for up to 12 h, after which all the turtle species could be identified from the liquid samples. This study establishes a method for the identification of commercial turtle shells and illustrates a simulated case using gelled products.
龟壳及其凝胶状制品在一些国家作为食品、滋补品和药品为人熟知。这些龟壳可能来自濒危和受保护物种，因此需要鉴定其中所含的物种，以执行国家和国际法规。我们报告了用于鉴定用作装饰品、食品和药品的龟壳及龟壳碎片的五组引物对组合的设计。所使用的样本类型是常见的，通常会含有高度降解的DNA。使用所述测试进行物种鉴定的成功率取决于所用引物组的选择以及预期扩增产物的长度。通过长达12小时的煎煮过程模拟凝胶状制品，之后所有龟类物种都可从液体样本中鉴定出来。本研究建立了一种鉴定商业龟壳的方法，并举例说明了使用凝胶状制品的模拟案例。
