Abstract
Acanthopanacis cortex has been used in clinical applications for a long time. Considering some historical and geographical factors, Acanthopanacis cortex is easily confused with other herbs in medicine markets, thereby causing potential safety issues. In this study, we used the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) barcode to identify 69 samples belonging to six species, including Acanthopanacis cortex and its adulterants. The nearest distance, single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and neighbor-joining (NJ) tree methods were used to evaluate the identification ability of the ITS2 barcode. According to the kimura-2-parameter model, the intraspecific distance of Eleutherococcus nodiflorus ITS2 sequences ranged from 0 to 0.0132. The minimum interspecific distance between E. nodiflorus and E. giraldii was 0.0221, which was larger than the maximum intraspecific distance of E. nodiflorus. Three stable SNPs in ITS2 can be used to distinguish Acanthopanacis cortex and its closely related species. The NJ tree indicated that the Acanthopanacis cortex samples clustered into one clade, which can be distinguished clearly from the adulterants of this herb. A secondary structure of ITS2 provided another dimensionality to identify species. In conclusion, the ITS2 barcode effectively identifies Acanthopanacis cortex, and DNA barcoding is a convenient tool for medicine market supervision.
Highlights
Acanthopanacis cortex, a traditional Chinese medicine known as “wujiapi,” is derived from the dried root barks of Eleutherococcus nodiflorus (Dunn) S.Y
A total of 69 samples belonging to six species, including E. nodiflorus (7 cortex and 9 leaf samples), P. sepium (12 cortex and 3 leaf samples), E. senticosus Maxim. (10 root, 1 fruit, 1 stem, and 3 leaf samples), E. giraldii (5 cortex and 4 leaf samples), E. sessiliflorus (1 stem and 8 leaf samples), and E. trifoliatus (L.) S
One and three intraspecies variation sites were found in the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) regions of E. giraldii and E. trifoliatus, respectively
Summary
Acanthopanacis cortex, a traditional Chinese medicine known as “wujiapi,” is derived from the dried root barks of Eleutherococcus nodiflorus (Dunn) S.Y. Hu (State Pharmacopoeia Committee, 2010). A fast SNP identification based on DNA barcoding was used to identify the genus Panax L. with its closely related species, as well as the FIGURE 1 | Samples of Acanthopanacis cortex and Periplocae cortex collected from medicine markets in China. Newmaster et al (2013) used DNA barcoding to detect the North American herbal products, and suggested that the herbal industry should embrace DNA barcoding for authenticating herbal products, which would provide consumers with safe, high quality herbal products These studies indicated that DNA barcoding is a convenient tool to identify medicinal plants, herbal medicine, and even commercial products. To ensure the clinical safety of Acanthopanacis cortex, the ITS2 barcode was sequenced and used in the present study to identify this herb and its adulterants
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