Abstract
The ITS sequences of the original plants of Spica prunellae and its confusable species including 16 individuals belonging to 6 species from 12 localities, were analyzed. The results showed that the length of ITS sequences was 584 bp after alignment and the overhanging terminals were cut. When alignment gaps were treated as missing data, there were 150 variable sites. The percent divergence between species was 10.9%, with a transitions/transversions ratio of 1.53. There were 11 variable and 9 informative sites among the ITS sequences of 4 species in Prunella Linn. There were specific sites at 5, 474 and 525 nt of the ITS sequence of P. grandiflora. There were 122 specific sites between genus Ajugaand genus Prunella. Both phylogenetic trees constructed by Maximum parsimony method and Neighbor-Joining method indicated that Prunella vulgarisLinn., P. asiatica Nakai. and P. hispida Benth. had a very close relationship. The character of ITS sequences can be used for providing the molecular markers for identifying Chinese Prunella (S. prunellae). Key words: Prunella vulgaris Linn, Prunella asiatica Nakai, ITS sequence, molecular identification.
Highlights
According to Chinese Pharmacopoeia (Chinese Pharmacopoeia Commission, 2005), the dried fruit-spike of Prunella vulgaris L
Because of the inconsistency about the boundary of ITS1, 5.8S and ITS2 regions existed between the P. vulgaris internal transcriped spacer (ITS) (Accession No AY506653) and A. decumbens ITS (Accession No AF477768), the boundary of ITS1, 5.8S and ITS2 were redefined by the blasting the ITS sequences from P. frutescens (Accession No AF477785), S. splendens (Accession No AF477788), P. vulgaris (Accession No AY506653) and A. decumbens (Accession No AF477768)
There were related reports about genuineness of Traditional Chinese Medicine, for example, P. vulgari is prescribed by Chinese Pharmacopoeia as the botanical origin of Spica prunellae from its closely related plant P. grandiflora and confusable species in genus Ajuga
Summary
According to Chinese Pharmacopoeia (Chinese Pharmacopoeia Commission, 2005), the dried fruit-spike of Prunella vulgaris L. (Fam. Labiatae) is used as the crude drug Spica prunellae (Common Selfheal FruitSpike ) in practice. P. vulgaris is generally regarded as one of the original species of S. prunellae according to Modern Chinese Materia Medica (Xiao, 2002), which mainly distributes in Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei and Henan provinces. The species from Jiangsu with long spike and short spike-stalk has the best curative effect and is called ‘Jing Common Selfheal’. Fruitspikes of Prunella asiatica Nakai and Prunella hispida Benth are regarded as other origins of S. prunellae. Wang et al (1996) found that the three species could be accurately distinguished according to their characters
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
