Fate of feed plant DNA monitored in water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) and rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) Raffaella Tudisco a, ⁎ , Federico Infascelli a , Monica Isabella Cutrignelli a , Fulvia Bovera a , Caterina Morcia b , Primetta Faccioli b , Valeria Terzi b a Dipartimento di Scienze Zootecniche e Ispezione degli Alimenti, Sez. B. Ferrara, Universita di Napoli “Federico II”, Via Delpino, 1-80137 Napoli, Italy b Istituto Sperimentale per la Cerealicoltura, C.R.A., Via San Protaso, 302 29017 Fiorenzuola d' Arda (PC), Italy Received 30 March 2005; received in revised form 7 February 2006; accepted 5 April 2006 Abstract The effect of the digestion process in the gastro-intestinal tract (GIT) of animal models on the fate and integrity of plant DNA has been widely evaluated since DNA availability and integrity is a key factor for hypothetical horizontal gene transfer of recombinant DNA from GM crop-derived feeds to animal and human gut microflora. In this study, plant DNA sequences from high and low copy number genes were monitored in GIT and tissues of buffaloes and rabbits. Using a real-time PCR approach to track plant DNA in animal samples, we demonstrated the persistence of fragmented plant DNA blood and tissues of buffaloes and rabbits raised with conventional feeding. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Buffalo; Rabbit; Plant DNA survival; Real-time qPCR 1. Introduction The fate and integrity of forage plant DNA in the gastro-intestinal tract (GIT) of various animal models has been evaluated by several studies funded by the EU- sponsored ENTRANSFOOD thematic network and GMOBILITY project, as reviewed by Kuiper et al. (2004) and van den Eede et al. (2004). Indeed, transgenic crops are increasingly entering the feed market, and the safety and substantial equivalence of these novel feeds have been extensively studied (Aumaitre et al., 2002). Integrity of DNA is a key factor for hypothetical horizontal gene transfer of recombinant DNA from GM crop-derived feeds to animal and human gut microflora (Netherwood et al., 2004). Short plant sequences have been amplified from poultry blood, muscles and organs (Klotz et al., 2002) and from cow blood (Klotz and Einspanier, 1998), whereas negative results have been obtained for eggs, cow milk, organs and tissues (Einspanier et al., 2001; Phipps et al., 2002). The results in pig are still controversial (Reuter and Aulrich, 2003; Klotz et al., 2002). In the present study, plant DNA sequences from high and low copy number genes were monitored in the GIT and tissues of buffaloes and rabbits using a real- time PCR approach, as it has been shown to be sensitive Livestock Science 105 (2006) 12 – 18 www.elsevier.com/locate/livsci ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 081 2536074; fax: +39 081 292981. E-mail address: tudisco@unina.it (R. Tudisco). 1871-1413/$ - see front matter © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.livsci.2006.04.036