Keywords: Android application,DNA barcoding; DNA QR code; meat species; scanner; sequence alignment; species identification
DNA barcoding is a molecular technology for species identification using a standard fragment of DNA sequence. Species identification of animal material in food samples is essential to authenticate the components of meat products from illegal substitutions. DNA barcoding make it possible to distinguish meat species of closely related animals. DNA barcoding is a molecular technology for species identification using a standard fragment of DNA sequence. Species identification of animal material in food samples is essential to authenticate the components of meat products from illegal substitutions. DNA barcoding make it possible to distinguish meat species of closely related animals. At the present, there is no practical application available for DNA barcoding because of the difficulty in retrieval of DNA sequences in a feasible data input. We attempt to eliminate the limitation by encoding the DNA sequence into a QR code. DNA extracted from meat products and had sequencing can be stored as DNA QR code. A DNA QR code scanner was developed to propose a practical application of DNA barcoding technology. This Android application is derived from ZXing barcode scanner and is equipped with DNA barcodes database of domestic animals. The DNA QR code of an unidentified specimen is compared with the reference DNA barcodes to find the matching species by local sequence alignment of Smith-Waterman. The application can help users to ascertain the meat content in food they purchase by scanning the DNA QR code label attached on the product.