Molecular Identification of Dried Shellfish Products Sold on the Market Using DNA Barcoding

The dried shellfish products with rich nutrients and low-calorie content are favorite food in China, especially in coastal areas. However, the species of dried shellfish products in the market are usually unknown, as the taxonomic features were removed during the production process. This study described the application of DNA barcoding technique to the identification of 100 dried shellfish(scallop, squid, octopus and cuttlefish) products in markets. Samples were authenticated by comparing mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I(COI) gene and 16 S ribosomal RNA(16 S rRNA) gene sequences with public reference taxonomic databases. The results showed that all the 100 products can be identified at species level. Sixty four scallop adductor products were processed using the bay scallop, Argopecten irradians, and one was from Portuguese oyster, Crassostrea angulata. All the 27 squid, 2 cuttlefish and 6 octopus products were produced by the Jumbo flying squid, Dosidicus gigas. The neighbour-joining tree is in agreement with the results of DNA barcoding analysis. The 64 scallop samples formed one A. irradians cluster, leaving Sca65 clustered with the reference oyster sequence C. angulata(MH997922). All the 35 cephalopod(squid, octopus and cuttlefish) samples formed a D. gigas cluster. This investigation revealed a low variety of dried shellfish products sold on the market, and highlighted the high rate of mislabeling and species substitution. Our present work provides a practical method for tracing and authenticating shellfish products.