High resolution melting analysis for identification of commercially-important Mytilus species

Mytilus are edible mussels, including commercially-significant species such as M. chilensis, M. galloprovincialis and M. edulis. The scientific name of the species must be indicated on commercial products to satisfy labelling and traceability requirements. Species identification using morphological criteria is difficult due the plasticity of these characteristics and the absence of shells in processed products, and conventional PCR-based methods are laborious and time-intensive. As alternative, we propose high resolution melting (HRM) analysis as a simple tool to detect and identify SNP (single nucleotide polymorphisms) and length polymorphisms in Mytilus spp. We designed HRM-specific primers for the Mytilus genus to identify M. chilensis, M. galloprovincialis, M. edulis and their hybrids through clearly-distinguishable melting curves. HRM analysis showed high sensitivity (0.9639), specificity (1.0000) and precision (1.0000) compared to a conventional PCR-RFLP test. HRM is a fast and low cost method, being a reliable tool for species identification within the Mytilus genus.