Development of an accurate and reliable DNA method for botanical origin authentication of ginseng food products

Abstract

Panax ginseng and Panax quinquefolius are two of the most commonly used Panax species with similar morphology but different pharmacological effects. These two species may be substituted for each other due to commercial interest or misidentification caused by similarity in appearance. Therefore, botanical origin authentication of ginseng food products is of great importance for their origin authenticity control and food safety. However, DNA degradation is the chief obstacle to marker-based origin authentication of ginseng products. In this study, indel markers were exploited from introns of 6 ginseng contigs by using an intron-flanking strategy. Specific primers were respectively designed for Panax ginseng and P. quinquefolius based on their insertion sequences in mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit II (cox2) gene. The developed multiplex PCR assay, mitigating the deficiency of DNA degradation, was proved to be effective for botanical origin authentication of ginseng food products. Furthermore, the assay can detect 0.1 % of intentional adulteration of P. quinquefolius into P. ginseng down to 0.001 ng of genomic DNA and vice versa. This study provides an accurate and reliable DNA method for botanical origin authentication of ginseng food products, and the presented method can be employed in origin authentication of other herbal preparations.