Rapid detection of bovine-specific nucleic acid sequences in cow milk using polymerase chain reaction

This study was carried out to evaluatea PCR-based method for detection of DNA in cow milk. It utilized primers targeting the mitochondrial cytochrome-b (mtcyt-b) gene, which was used as a target DNA for PCR amplification. For the specific identification of cow mtcyt-b gene, a pair of primers (CSL1, CSR2), which produced a 386 bp PCR product from milk samples as well as from peripheral blood, were used. Amplification products were visualized on ethidium bromide-stained agarose gels. Amplification products were not detected when the PCR was applied to DNA from different animal species including sheep, camel, deerand human, indicating that the 2 pairs of primers are bovine specific. In conclusion, the PCR-based assay used in this study allowed sensitive and specific identification of cow milk DNA.