Abstract
Chinese herbal tea, also known as Liang Cha or cooling beverage, is popular in South China. It is regarded as a quick-fix remedy to relieve minor health problems. Hedyotis diffusa Willd. (colloquially Baihuasheshecao) is a common ingredient of cooling beverages. H. diffusa is also used to treat cancer and bacterial infections. Owing to the high demand for H. diffusa, two common adulterants, Hedyotis brachypoda (DC.) Sivar and Biju (colloquially Nidingjingcao) and Hedyotis corymbosa (L.) Lam. (colloquially Shuixiancao), are commonly encountered in the market. Owing to the close similarity of their morphological characteristics, it is difficult to differentiate them. Here, we sequenced the complete chloroplast genomes of the three species of Hedyotis using next-generation sequencing (NGS). By comparing the complete chloroplast genomes, we found that they are closely related in the subfamily Rubioideae. We also discovered that there are significant differences in the number and repeating motifs of microsatellites and complex repeats and revealed three divergent hotspots, rps16-trnQ intergenic spacer, ndhD and ycf1. By using these species-specific sequences, we propose new DNA barcoding markers for the authentication of H. diffusa and its two common adulterants.
Highlights
IntroductionKnown as Liang Cha or cooling beverage, is a decoction of multiple herbs popular in South China and tropical Asia [1]
Chinese herbal tea, known as Liang Cha or cooling beverage, is a decoction of multiple herbs popular in South China and tropical Asia [1]
For the three species of Hedyotis, paired-end reads with 150 bp in average length were generated by Illumina sequencing
Summary
Known as Liang Cha or cooling beverage, is a decoction of multiple herbs popular in South China and tropical Asia [1]. Many species of Hedyotis, for example, H. biflora [4], H. herbacea [5] and H. chrysotricha [6], are used as folk medicine or as ingredients in herbal products for health maintenance. H. diffusa is a well-known ingredient in cooling beverages, which are consumed daily to quench thirst and to modulate the immune system [7], to prevent inflammatory diseases and to maintain good health. H. diffusa possesses the pharmacological effects of anti-oxidation, anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory properties for treating different kinds of cancers, such as colorectal cancer, leukemia and multiple myeloma [8,9,10]
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