{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T01:21:32Z","timestamp":1760059292497,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,4]],"date-time":"2025-06-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1748995200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Australian Government Department of Fisheries and Forestry"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Biosecurity is vital to Australia\u2019s efforts to prevent and respond to pests and diseases. Here, we report on testing suspected illegal goods (SIGs) as part of an active Australian biosecurity response in Sydney. The Australian Government, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry detected and secured consignments containing tuber products of unknown biosecurity risk and origin. Swab samples were collected from vacuum-sealed yam products, organic packing material (background negative controls), and field negative controls to assess possible cross-contamination from the storage facility. DNA from all samples was analysed using high-throughput metabarcoding targeting the Internal Transcribed Spacer 2 (ITS2) and the chloroplast trnL (UAA) P6 Loop gene regions by two independent teams in Australia. A plant community profile comprising Australian native species and other non-native established species would support the notion of produce being harvested and\/or packaged domestically, while their absence would suggest foreign production. Of the 5,764,942 total reads produced, the bioinformatic analysis generated 5,181,530 amplicon sequencing variants employed for species identification. Twenty plant taxa were identified via ITS2 and 15 via trnL, corresponding to worldwide distributed plants, non-native species established in Australia, or species not recorded in Australia. No Australian endemic species were detected. The absence of common Australian native plants, combined with the presence of species not known to occur in Australia, provided strong evidence that the suspect tuber products were illegally imported.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms26115399","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,4]],"date-time":"2025-06-04T10:10:16Z","timestamp":1749031816000},"page":"5399","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Use of Multi-Locus Metabarcoding to Inform an Australian Government Biosecurity Response on the Origins of Suspected Illegal Plant Products"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"26","author":[{"given":"Jennifer A.","family":"Soroka","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Conservation Ecology and Genomics, Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT 2617, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Matias","family":"Silva-Campos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry-Plant Innovation Centre Facility, Mickleham, VIC 3064, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9940-5926","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Frank","family":"Bedon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry-Plant Innovation Centre Facility, Mickleham, VIC 3064, Australia"},{"name":"Department of Ecological Plant and Animal Sciences, School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3086, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Adrian","family":"Dinsdale","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry-Plant Innovation Centre Facility, Mickleham, VIC 3064, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Dianne M.","family":"Gleeson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Conservation Ecology and Genomics, Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT 2617, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6376-4978","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alejandro","family":"Trujillo-Gonz\u00e1lez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Conservation Ecology and Genomics, Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT 2617, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,6,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"100108","article-title":"World economic growth and seaborne trade volume: Quantifying the relationship","volume":"4","author":"Michail","year":"2020","journal-title":"Transp. 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