Combined SNPs and miRNAs technologies for beef traceability
The independent and highly heterozygous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been shown suitable for meat traceability. The microRNAs (miRNAs) that were differently expressed among regions could be used for meat origin traceability. In the present study, ten SNPs from 148 Chinese beef cattle were screened by HRM. The results showed that these SNPs were all suitable for beef traceability with the probability error rate of .308‰. These cattle could not be clustered into different regions based on the SNP genotyping, which indicated that the SNPs assay was suitable for individual traceability. High throughput sequencing revealed that 16 miRNAs were up-regulated expression and 18 miRNAs were down-regulated expression in JL group (eastern part) compared to XJ group (western part). RT-PCR confirmed that bta-miR-2284ab and bta-miR-486 were differently expressed in Jilin and Xinjiang samples. Thus, the two miRNAs could be used as biomarkers for origin traceability.

Practical applications
To solve meat safety problems, meat traceability is extremely important. SNPs-based technology can trace animal individuals and miRNAs-based technology can do origin traceability. Once suitable primers could be designed for a sufficient number of SNP loci, these primers could be loaded on an array, and then traceability could be realized by HRM. We identified the miRNAs that were differently expressed among regions and beef origin traceability could be realized by analyzing them using RT-PCR. All the detection methods are rapidly and cost-effectively. A combination of SNPs- and miRNAs-based technologies can implement traceability management of beef cattle.