INTRODUCTION Before 2004, the occurrence of acute Chagas disease (ACD) by oral transmission associated with food was scarcely known or investigated. Originally sporadic and circumstantial, ACD occurrences have now become frequent in the Amazon region, with recently related outbreaks spreading to several Brazilian states. These cases are associated with the consumption of açai juice by waste res...

In order to evaluate three different methods for DNA extraction (CTAB, DNeasy Plant Mini Kit and Wizard DNA Clean-up Resin system), the yields of DNA extracted from soyproducts and the copy numbers of lectin genes amplified by quantitative PCR were compared. Fermented foods, such as miso and nattou, gave poor yields of DNA and low copy numbers with any method. However atsu-age and kinugoshi-tof...

Food matrices are controlled for the presence of authorised and unauthorised GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms). Transgenic papaya was developed and approved for the market in the USA. However, authorisation in EC have not been accomplished. Recently, unauthorised GM papaya was catch on EC market. Therefore it is necessary to dispose by an assay revealing genetically modified fruits. High qu...

Five different RNA extraction methods have been tried out on the red seaweed, Gracilaria changii collected from the mangrove area at Morib, Selangor, Malaysia. Two methods, one utilising guanidinium thiocyanate, and another using cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB), were found to be potential alternatives to obtain pure RNA. By incorporating sand while grinding the tissue, the method using C...

DNA extracted from herbarium specimens is highly fragmented; therefore, it is crucial to use extraction protocols that retrieve short DNA molecules. Improvements in extraction and DNA library preparation protocols for animal remains have allowed efficient retrieval of molecules shorter than 50 bp. Here, we applied these improvements to DNA extraction protocols for herbarium specimens and evalua...

Extraction of high quality RNA is a critical step in molecular genetics studies. Hazelnut is one of the most important nuts plants in the world. The presence of the taxol and other taxanes in hazelnut plant necessitates explaining their biosynthesis pathway and identifying the candidate genes. Therefore, an easy and practical method is necessary for RNA extraction from hazelnuts. Hazelnut has h...

A simple, rapid and efficient method for isolating genomic DNA from lychee (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) was developed. This modified CTAB protocol include the use of 2 M NaCl, PVP, 5% mercaptoethanol and 80% ethanol in the extraction as well as reducing the centrifugation times during the separation and precipitation of the DNA. Isolated genomic DNA showed high purity and high quantity following re...