Abstract
The stems of Dendrobium officinale have been used as a rare and valuable Chinese tonic medicine, known as “Tiepi Fengdou”, since the Qing dynasty. Because of the increased market demand and continued exploitation of this plant, the reserves of wild D. officinale resources have been depleted, and D. officinale products on the market are being increasingly adulterated. Such changes have strongly affected the sustainable utilization of this valuable medicinal plant resource and the development of related industries. In this study, a species-specific DNA marker was developed for the rapid and accurate authentication of D. officinale. In total, 36 start codon-targeted (SCoT) polymorphism primers were screened in 36 definite Dendrobium species, and a distinct species-specific DNA amplicon (SCoT13-215) for D. officinale was obtained. After the sequence was cloned and sequenced, a sequence-characterized amplified region marker was developed (named SHF/SHR) and validated through PCR amplification of all 38 Dendrobium samples. The marker’s specificity for D. officinale was confirmed through the consistent amplification of a clear 197-bp band. This SCAR marker can be used to rapidly, effectively, and reliably identify D. officinale among various Dendrobium species and may play an important role in ensuring the quality of medicinal preparations and protecting the germplasm of this important medicinal species.
Highlights
Dendrobium officinale Kimura et Migo is an important orchid plant endemic to China that has been identified separately from other Dendrobium species in the Pharmacopeia of the People’s Republic of China (2010 Edition)
We report the suitability of polymorphic start codon-targeted (SCoT) markers in developing a species-specific Sequence-characterized amplified regions (SCARs) marker
We evaluated the genetic relationships of 36 Dendrobium species based on SCoT markers, and the findings indicated that a high degree of genetic diversity exists among Chinese Dendrobium species (Feng et al, 2015a)
Summary
Dendrobium officinale Kimura et Migo is an important orchid plant endemic to China that has been identified separately from other Dendrobium species in the Pharmacopeia of the People’s Republic of China (2010 Edition). Morphological (Wahba et al, 2014; Moudi and Go, 2017), microscopic (Zhao et al, 2017, 2018), or chemical analyses (Luo et al, 2013; Ye et al, 2017) were utilized for herb identification; in the majority of cases, these analyses are inadequate to correctly identify plant species (Teixeira da Silva et al, 2016; Kumar et al, 2018) These morphological, microscopic, and chemical indicators are affected by environmental factors. The number of DNA molecular markers covering the whole genome is large, and they present high polymorphic and genetic stability; their use is not limited by environmental factors or gene expression levels These markers have been widely used in molecular identification, phylogenetic evolution, and genetic diversity analyses of plant species (Teixeira da Silva et al, 2016; Lu et al, 2018). Different medicinal herbs act in different medicinal pathways; it is highly important to establish a stable and effective identification method for quality control, which necessitates developing a rapid and reliable method for the identification of D. officinale
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