Development and primary application of a fluorescent liquid bead array for the simultaneous identification of multiple genetically modified maize

An integration event-specific fluorescent liquid bead array was developed for the simultaneous identification of 10 genetically modified (GM) maize, including Bt176, Bt11, MON810, NK603, GA21, MON88017, MON89034, MIR604, T25 and MIR162, as well as one non-GM maize. The system comprised 11 specific oligonucleotide probes labeled with an amino group and coupled to fluorescence-encoded microspheres. To enable fluorescence detection, 11 pairs of primers labeled with biotin at the 5′ ends were used. The hybridization signal of biotinylated PCR product to the probe-coupled microspheres was then detected. The limit of detection of this assay was 0.1% for GM maize, which is lower than the current labeling threshold levels enforced in the EU (0.9%). The results of the positive and negative controls were consistent with their expected situation, which showed that the method was highly specific. We detected GM maize in 20 of the 1370 commercial food samples tested, which were labeled as containing maize. The overall sensitivity, specificity, rapidity and high throughput capacity of this liquid chip system suggest that it could provide a significant improvement over current methods, and potentially offer an improved platform for further research into the detection of other GM plants.