DNA fingerprinting of pearls to determine their origins

Joana B Meyer; Laurent E Cartier; Eric A Pinto-Figueroa; Michael S Krzemnicki; Henry A Hänni; Bruce A McDonald

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0075606

DNA fingerprinting of pearls to determine their origins

PLoS One. 2013 Oct 9;8(10):e75606. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0075606. eCollection 2013.

Authors

Joana B Meyer¹, Laurent E Cartier, Eric A Pinto-Figueroa, Michael S Krzemnicki, Henry A Hänni, Bruce A McDonald

Affiliation

¹ Department of Environmental System Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland ; Swiss Gemmological Institute SSEF, Basel, Switzerland.

Abstract

We report the first successful extraction of oyster DNA from a pearl and use it to identify the source oyster species for the three major pearl-producing oyster species Pinctada margaritifera, P. maxima and P. radiata. Both mitochondrial and nuclear gene fragments could be PCR-amplified and sequenced. A polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay in the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region was developed and used to identify 18 pearls of unknown origin. A micro-drilling technique was developed to obtain small amounts of DNA while maintaining the commercial value of the pearls. This DNA fingerprinting method could be used to document the source of historic pearls and will provide more transparency for traders and consumers within the pearl industry.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
DNA Fingerprinting
Pinctada / classification
Pinctada / genetics*
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Swiss Gemmological Institute (SSEF). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.