Beef traceability using molecular metodologies

Over the last decade, the problem of assigning an individual to its source population has become more and more important. Breed names are increasingly being used as brand names, and this has stimulated interest by the beef industry in developing techniques to certify breed origin of beef products. Among these, DNA-based methods are particularly useful considering that genetic material represents a stable code able to preserve information about the subject and its origin. The aim of thiswork is to develop an efficient methodology of breed traceability based on microsatellite markers (Ciampolini et al., 1995). We also consider a second methodology based on the research of possible breed-specific polymorphisms in target genes. Since coat colour is a characteristic subjected to selection over many years, genes that influence this phenotype could be potential markers able to distinguish between different breeds (Girardot et al., 2005). The main coat colour genes have been analyzed for Chianina, Marchigiana, Romagnola and Piemontese.