TaqMan qPCR for detection and quantification of mitochondrial DNA from toxic pufferfish species.

Outbreaks of pufferfish food poisoning have been reported worldwide, most were from unsuitable food preparation and adulteration. In order to rapidly detect pufferfish adulterant in processed foods, we developed and proposed the use of a TaqMan probe-based quantitative PCR. The designed detection oligos targeted a unique region in 16S rDNA of toxic marine pufferfish in Tetraodontidae Family and gave a positive signal at ≥1.75 pg of genomic DNA. Non-target DNA samples from other fish, chicken, and beef were negative.