ABSTRACT

Almond kernels can be mixed with apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) seeds while preparing certain almond-based products such as marzipan, without an identifiable alteration in the final product’s sensory attributes. Consequently, apricot kernels are the most commonly utilized almond substitutes for the economic adulteration of almonds. In the present work, the trnH-psbA intergenic spacer was evaluated as a potential PCR-based authenticity marker of almond. The barcode enabled the straightforward discrimination of almond and apricot in their blends, based on diagnostic length polymorphisms between the two closely related Prunus species. The proposed assay simultaneously amplifies and distinguishes almond- and apricot-specific trnH-psbA barcode fragments from mixed samples. The barcode size of almond segregates significantly from peach as well, which is a secondary source for the economic adulteration of almond kernels. The proposed trnH-psbA genotyping assay is easy and selective for the discrimination of almond from its potential adulterants when present as admixtures.

摘要

在制备某些基于杏仁的产品（如小杏仁饼）时，可以将杏仁仁与杏子（李子）种子混合，而最终产品的感官属性没有明显变化。因此，杏仁是杏仁经济掺假中最常用的杏仁替代品。在目前的工作中，trnH-psbA基因间隔子被评估为潜在的基于PCR的杏仁真实性标记。基于两个紧密相关的李属物种之间的诊断长度多态性，条形码能够直接区分杏仁和杏的混合物。拟议的测定法同时扩增和区分杏仁和杏特异的trnH-psbA来自混合样品的条形码碎片。杏仁的条形码尺寸也明显地与桃分离，这是经济上掺入杏仁仁的第二个来源。拟议的trnH-psbA基因分型测定法很容易且具有选择性，可从混合物中将杏仁与潜在的掺假物区分开。