Abstract
BackgroundSpecies identification of living organisms by standard DNA sequences has been well-accepted. Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) recommends chloroplast regions rbcL and matK as the DNA barcodes for the land plants. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and limitations of rbcL, matK, and 5 other commonly used regions as the DNA barcodes for the medicinal Gentiana and their adulterants, Gentiana. rhodantha and Podophyllum hexandrum.MethodsThe species differentiation power of rbcL, matK, nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and 5S rRNA intergenic spacer, and chloroplast trnH-psbA, trnL-F and rpl36-rps8 intergenic spacers were tested in different medicinal Gentiana, including Gentiana scabra, Gentiana triflora, Gentiana manshurica and Gentiana rigescens, from common adulterants such as Gentiana rhodantha and Podophyllum hexandrum (a toxic herb producing podophyllotoxin).ResultsAll seven tested loci could be used to differentiate medicinal Gentiana species from their adulterants, and to distinguish Guanlongdan from Jianlongdan. In terms of general differentiation powers, rbcL and matK had no significant advantages over the other five loci. Only the 5S rRNA and trnL-F intergenic spacers were able to discriminate the closely related species G. triflora, G. scabra and G. manshurica.ConclusionThe DNA barcodes rbcL and matK are useful in differentiation of closely related medicinal species of Gentiana, but had no significant advantages over the other five tested loci.
Highlights
Species identification of living organisms by standard DNA sequences has been well-accepted
The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of the nuclear ribosomal cistron consists of ITS1 and ITS 2, and has been demonstrated to be useful for phylogenic studies in many angiosperm families [6]
We checked the complementarity between the primers and the available Gentiana sequences from National Center for Biotechnology information (NCBI)
Summary
Species identification of living organisms by standard DNA sequences has been well-accepted. Consortium for the Barcode of Life (CBOL) recommends chloroplast regions rbcL and matK as the DNA barcodes for the land plants. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and limitations of rbcL, matK, and 5 other commonly used regions as the DNA barcodes for the medicinal Gentiana and their adulterants, Gentiana. The nuclear and chloroplast genomes are the major targets for plant species authentication and phylogenetic studies. Since the rate of evolution varies across each genome, different DNA regions may be selected to reveal different taxonomic levels. The success rates of identification were 91.9%, 76.1%, 74.2%, 67.1%, 88.1% and 77.4% for animals, dicotyledons, monocotyledons, No Scientific name TCM name
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