Molecular identification of the medicinal herb plant Ruta angustifolia from Lembang Bandung using chloroplast DNA markers

Abstract

Ruta angustifolia is a medicinal plant that comes from Southern Europe and North Africa. Ruta angustifolia, commonly called inggu in Indonesia, has long been trusted and used as a medicine for various diseases. Although it has been traditionally used to treat some diseases, but sufficient information about Ruta angustifolia plant in Indonesia is still very rare, especially related to molecular data (DNA barcode). The purpose of this study is to obtain molecular information about Ruta angustifolia plant in Lembang, Bandung and compared with existing data in the gene bank. The fact is that research on molecular genetics (DNA barcodes) of Ruta angustifolia in Indonesia has not been done. Total genomic DNA was extracted using the DNeasy Plant Mini Kit from QIAGEN. Chloroplast DNA markers used in this study is chloroplast maturase K (matK) dan chloroplast ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylate (rbcL). Sample then amplified and sequenced. The rbcL gene is successfully amplified but the matK gene is not. The results of rbcL sequence then compared with the data that has been deposited in the gene bank. The technique used is Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST). Phylogenetic tree than constructed using MEGA7 software. From the phylogenetic tree, it can be seen that Ruta angustifolia’s rbcL sequence closer to Ruta graveolens and Ruta chalepensis than other genus such as Murraya, Halfordia, Zanthoxylum, Toddalia, and Sarcomelicope.