mericon Sheep Kit

The mericon Sheep Kit is for the detection of sheep matter in food or animal feed. It can detect as few as 10 copies of the target DNA in a reaction and it exhibits high specificity for sheep. No cross-reactivity was observed with other plant or animal species, using 50 ng of the tested DNA (see the table "Results of mericon Sheep Kit cross-reactivity study").

Results of mericon Sheep Kit cross-reactivity study

The mericon Sheep Kit is designed for the qualitative detection of sheep matter in food and animal feed. The detection of target DNA confirms ingredient authenticity or prevents food fraud, ethical issues, or health concerns.

Authenticating ingredients using real-time PCR is based on the amplification of a specific region of the relevant target genome. The amplified product is detected using target-specific fluorescent probes that bind to the amplified product. As the PCR product accumulates, there is an increased fluorescent signal from the bound probes. Monitoring the fluorescence intensities during the PCR run (i.e., in real time) allows the detection of the accumulating PCR product without having to re-open the reaction tubes after the PCR run.

mericon PCR Assays include an internal control to control potential inhibition. This aids in the straightforward interpretation of the results (see the table "Summary of possible PCR outcomes").

DNA is extracted from a sample of food or animal feed using a dedicated sample preparation kit. QIAGEN's DNeasy mericon Food Kit is suitable for a whole range of food matrices, including those with high inhibitor contents.

The isolated, pure DNA is assayed using a streamlined real-time PCR protocol that returns results in 82 minutes on QIAGEN's Rotor-Gene Q. The protocol has also been validated for use on other thermal block cyclers.

The results are displayed as easy-to-interpret PCR curves.