Exploitation of the chloroplast trnL (UAA) intron polymorphisms for the authentication of plant oils by means of a lab-on-a-chip capillary electrophoresis system

Methods to discriminate plant oils facilitate the detection of either deliberate or accidental adulteration. To this direction, the variability in length among plant species of the chloroplast trnL intron was exploited for the authentication of edible and cosmetic plant oils, with an extra emphasis on olive oil. The methodology was based on the combinatorial use of a PCR assay with a capillary electrophoresis system such as the lab-on-a-chip technology. Application of the assay on DNA extracted from different oil producing plant species, including olive oil and sesame oil, indicated the ability of the trnL intron to be used as an analytical target. Furthermore, this assay could be used for the detection of adulteration of olive oil with various other plant oils, with the exception of avocado and sesame oil.