Abstract
Daphne mucronata Royle and Thymelaea hirsuta (L.) Endl both belong to the Thymelaeaceae family. Both species are used traditionally to treat several diseases along with various daily applications by Jordanian Bedouins. Traditionally, those species are identified through personal proficiency, which could be misleading due to human errors or lack of expertise. This study aims to investigate an effective DNA barcoding method to identify and characterize Daphne mucronata Royle and Thymelaea hirsuta plant species at the molecular level. Daphne mucronata Royle and Thymelaea hirsuta were collected from the ancient city of Petra in the Southern part of Jordan. Sequences of candidate DNA barcodes were amplified (rbcL, matK, and rpoC1), sequenced, and aligned to the blastn database. Moreover, the obtained sequences were compared with available sequences of related species at the GenBank database. Our results showed that DNA barcoding successfully identifies the two plant species using any of chloroplast genes (rbcL, matK, or rpoC1). The results emphasize the ability of DNA barcoding for identifying and characterizing different plant species through the recruitment of different barcode loci in molecular identification.
Highlights
Thymelaeaceae family is a medium-sized family of Angiosperms that contains almost898 species distributed in 50 different genera [1]
This study aims to use DNA barcoding to confirm the identity of the following two medicinal plant species: Daphne mucronata and Thymelaea hirsuta using matK, rbcL, and rpoC1 genes as a barcode region
Daphne mucronata and Thymelaea hirsuta selected barcode regions were searched against the GenBank database [33]
Summary
Thymelaeaceae family is a medium-sized family of Angiosperms that contains almost898 species distributed in 50 different genera [1]. Thymelaeaceae family is widely used in folk medicine to treat several diseases as it has anti-leukemia, antitumor, anti-gout, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial pharmacological properties [3]. Among the Thymelaeaceae species are Daphne mucronata and Thymelaea hirsute, with various medical and daily uses. Daphne mucronata is used in folk medicine to treat cancer, different skin disorders, ulcer, and purgative abortifacient [3,6,7,8,9]. Daphne mucronata has analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activities [10]. Daphne mucronata Royle showed a protective and anti-inflammatory effect on the stressed human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells protecting human adipose stem cells against monosodium iodoacetate and enhancing cell proliferation [11]. The phytochemical screening of Daphne mucronata Royle showed antimicrobial activity and antioxidant properties [12,13,14,15]. Ethyl acetate extract of Daphne mucronata aerial parts revealed the following chemical constituents: Coumarins, flavonoids, triterpenoids, diterpenes, lignin, and glucosides [10]
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