Vertebrate Species Profiling in One Step Using a Single Primer.

Current species profiling techniques usually require several steps to identify anunknown species in quarantine cases and other forensic applications. Here we havedeveloped a species profiling test that produces unique profiles for all vertebratespecies tested using a single primer in a polymerase chain reaction. Samples testedincluded a range of mammals and other vertebrates such as fish and marsupials; agroup of animals yet to be characterized with molecular speciation techniques.Species-specific profiles were shown to be reproducible and able to be generatedfrom less than 10 ng of total DNA, comparable to DNA quantities used in conventionalspecies profiling techniques. A case study demonstrates the utility of the technique by distinguishing between commercial and protected species of theMacropodidae (kangaroo) superfamily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]