Abstract
BackgroundThe economic value of ginseng in the global medicinal plant trade is estimated to be in excess of US$2.1 billion. At the same time, the evolutionary placement of ginseng (Panax ginseng) and the complex evolutionary history of the genus is poorly understood despite several molecular phylogenetic studies. In this study, we use a full plastome phylogenomic framework to resolve relationships in Panax and to identify molecular markers for species discrimination.ResultsWe used high-throughput sequencing of MBD2-Fc fractionated Panax DNA to supplement publicly available plastid genomes to create a phylogeny based on fully assembled and annotated plastid genomes from 60 accessions of 8 species. The plastome phylogeny based on a 163 kbp matrix resolves the sister relationship of Panax ginseng with P. quinquefolius. The closely related species P. vietnamensis is supported as sister of P. japonicus. The plastome matrix also shows that the markers trnC-rps16, trnS-trnG, and trnE-trnM could be used for unambiguous molecular identification of all the represented species in the genus.ConclusionsMBD2 depletion reduces the cost of plastome sequencing, which makes it a cost-effective alternative to Sanger sequencing based DNA barcoding for molecular identification. The plastome phylogeny provides a robust framework that can be used to study the evolution of morphological characters and biosynthesis pathways of ginsengosides for phylogenetic bioprospecting. Molecular identification of ginseng species is essential for authenticating ginseng in international trade and it provides an incentive for manufacturers to create authentic products with verified ingredients.
Highlights
The economic value of ginseng in the global medicinal plant trade is estimated to be in excess of US$2.1 billion
A phylogenetic framework can be used to develop accurate molecular identification of Panax, and enable identification of ginseng material in trade, both crude drugs and derived products, which is essential for conservation efforts and protection of the remaining wild populations of P. ginseng and related Panax species, Manzanilla et al BMC Evolutionary Biology (2018) 18:44 since all may be under the pressure of illegal harvesting and international trade [10]
Sampling Fresh material of three species, P. bipinnatifidus, P. stipuleanatus, and P. vietnamensis (2), was sampled in Vietnam (Table 1, Additional file 1: Table S1) and 57 selected Araliaceae plastid genomes from across the Araliaceae family were downloaded from open data repositories (Additional file 2: Table S2) [12, 85,86,87,88,89,90,91,92,93,94,95,96,97]
Summary
The economic value of ginseng in the global medicinal plant trade is estimated to be in excess of US$2.1 billion. We use a full plastome phylogenomic framework to resolve relationships in Panax and to identify molecular markers for species discrimination. Ginseng has been used in traditional medicine in China for thousands of years [1], but it was not until early 18th century that long-term, intense harvest nearly extirpated Panax ginseng C.A.Mey. from the wild [2]. A phylogenetic framework can be used to develop accurate molecular identification of Panax, and enable identification of ginseng material in trade, both crude drugs and derived products, which is essential for conservation efforts and protection of the remaining wild populations of P. ginseng and related Panax species, Manzanilla et al BMC Evolutionary Biology (2018) 18:44 since all may be under the pressure of illegal harvesting and international trade [10]. Identification of Panax species and authentication of derived products is of great commercial importance as authentic ginseng is costly and the incentive for substitution is significant
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