泰国皇家毒蛇研究中心的Sunutcha Suntrarachuna、Lawan Chanhome和拉农海洋渔业站的Montri Sumontha基于PCR-RFLP的技术用于鉴定泰国海域的海蛇是通过开发物种特异性标记来实现的。为区分海蛇物种，对细胞色素b（Cyt b）、12S和16S rRNA的PCR产物进行测序，并用不同的限制性内切酶Alu I和Hinf I切割。每种酶产生不同大小的片段，区别于8种海蛇的Cyt b。然而，在青灰海蛇组中发现了相同的模式。通过使用这些酶12S rRNA消化可以解决该结果。该技术成功应用于血、脱皮、生肉、熟肉、海蛇-鱼混合物和海蛇-猪肉混合物（的检测）。因此，它可以用于肉类产品中海蛇肉掺假并作为肉丸出售以降低生产成本的识别。
研究者希望这种技术能够在形态检查不再可能的情况下（这些动物已经被处理过了）能增强海蛇种类的识别。这对于追踪海蛇物种捕获时间以及用于评估泰国水域（特别是泰国湾）海蛇的保护和管理非常重要。
文章摘要
ABSTRACT
Identification of sea snake meat adulteration in meat products using PCR-RFLP of mitochondrial DNA
Sunutcha Suntrarachuna,?, Lawan Chanhomea, Montri Sumonthab
a Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, Thai Red Cross Society, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
b Ranong Marine Fisheries Station, Ranong 85000, Thailand
Abstract
PCR-RFLP based technique for identification of sea snakes in Thai waters was achieved by developing species-specific markers. To distinguish between sea snake species, the PCR products of cytochrome b (Cyt b), 12S and 16S rRNA were sequenced and cut with different restriction endonuclease, Alu I and Hinf I. Each enzyme generated different - sized fragments which specific to Cyt b of eight sea snake species. However, the identical pattern was found among Hydrophis group. This result could be resolved by using these enzymes 12S rRNA digestion. This technique was successfully applied to blood, shed skin, raw meat, cooked meat, sea snake-fish binary admixture, and sea snake-pork binary admixture. Hence, it could be applied for identification when sea snake meat adulteration in meat products and sold as meatballs to reduce production costs. Hopefully, this technique would improve sea snake species identification when morphological examination is no longer possible because the animals are already processed. This is very important to track when sea snake species are being hunted and also used to assess the conservation and management of the sea snakes in Thai waters, especially the Gulf of Thailand.
