1,720,973 research outputs found
Blue Economy and Biodiversity Surveillance: Fish Caviar Substitute Rapid Discrimination
No full textThe species identification is a key problem throughout the life cycle of fishes: from eggs and larvae to adults in
ecosystem and fisheries research and control, as well as processed fish products labelling in consumer protection.
Here, we report a rapid blue biotechnological method applied for egg and fish species discrimination. The
amplification of a region of the mitochondrial genome, the cytochrome b, by using the Polymerase Chain Reaction
(PCR) permits marine aquatic species identification. The obtained PCR-products were cut with different restriction
endonucleases resulting in species-specific Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms (RFLP), which allowed to
discriminate, in one step, between different types of caviar substitute species. The following analysis of
mitochondrial DNA to control the labelling between caviar substitute species of Cyclopterus lumpus, Mallotus
villosus, Trisopterus minutus minutus and the caviar, Acipenser baerii and their monitoring and surveillance is
suitable with only one restriction enzyme, MboII. This blue method, applied to a very significant number of samples,
retrieved online, allowed a rapid and economic identification of the species, with high percentage of correct
identification for fish caviar substitute
Frog Gonad as bio-indicator of Sarno River Health
No full textThe Sarno River is affected by an extreme environmental degradation as a result of uncontrolled agricultural activities and the outflow of industrial waste. Changes in the abundance indexes and biodiversity of frogs can be used as a measuring tool to determine water quality of the Sarno River. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the potential in using frog tissue as environmental indicators and to monitor changes in water quality of local streams in the development area of Sarno River. Thus, many samples are collected from sedi-ment, water and frogs for metals analysis. To identify any differentiations of bioaccumulation of metals we have been analyzed skin and gonad of the more representative frog specie along the Sarno river, the barcoded Pelophylax bergeri. Results show that the degree of pol-lution in the Sarno river varies by zone, as well as by metal to metal, with contents that often are very elevated in frogs and higher in water than sediment. The concentrations of heavy metals, especially Arsenic (As) Chromium (Cr) and Zinc (Zn) were found higher in testis than skin of the collected frogs. Therefore, our results sustain the important role of frog gonads as a good bio-indicator of pollution. Frogs, Pelo-phylax bergeri, and water of Sarno River are very contaminated by arsenic and need to be urgently remediated
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