Detection and quantification of BT maize foodstuffs

EZEQUIEL MARGARIT; MARTÍN I. REGGIARDO; RUBEN H. VALLEJOS; HUGO R. PERMINGEAT

Buenos Aires

Congreso; Baires Biotec 2005 Congreso Internacional Grupo Biotecnología - VI Simposio Nacional de Biotecnología - REDBIO Argentina 2005 - Encuentro trinacional REDBIO Argentina; 2005

REDBIO Argentina - Grupo BIotecnología

Inasmuch adoption of GMO crops increased drastically in the last years (up to 81 million Has in 2004), the public perception did not acompany that growth in the same way. Recently, the European Commission reported a 0.9% threshold for the labeling of GM foods. Food processing may modify the quality and quantity of DNA and proteins in the elaborated product. Both molecules are targets of analyses carried out for detection and quantification of GMOs in grains and foodstuffs. In this work, we report the detection and quantification of transgeni Bt maize in 8 out of 32 samples of human and animals foodstuffs after analyzing the DNA and protein isolated from them. The integrity of the Bt protein in all samples was determined by ELISA and Western blot, correlating it with the food elaboration process.