Identification of bear bile powder and its adulterants by using DNA barcoding technology

Abstract

To identify the precious bile powder and its adulterants by DNA barcoding, and establish its standard experimental process to ensure the safe and effective utilization. Total twelve sequences from samples of bear bile powder which come from Ursus thibetanus for DNA extraction, PCR(polymerase chain reaction) and sequence, then using CodonCode Aligner V 7.0.1 shear primer region to obtain COI sequence. The COI sequences of U. arctos and their adulterants were obtained from GenBank. MEGA7.0 software was applied for analyzing mutation, calculating intraspecific and interspecific K2P(Kimura 2-Parameter) genetic distance and constructing the Neighbor-joining tree(NJ). The results showed that the maximum K2P genetic distance of bear bile powder of U. thibetanus and U. arctos are far less than minimum K2P genetic distance within its adulterants species, and the results of NJ tree demonstrated that each species could be distinguished from the counterfeits obviously. DNA barcoding is a safe, convenient and reliable technique for species identification, and it is important to establish the standard sequence of COI sequences for animal medicines.