The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Fritillaria thunbergii Miq., an important medicinal plant, and identification of DNA markers to authenticate Fritillariae Bulbus

Abstract

The genus Fritillaria is an important herbaceous medicinal plant. The dried bulbs of many Fritillaria species are used as Fritillariae Bulbus in traditional oriental medicines. However, these herbal medicines frequently contain mixtures of different types of Fritillariae Bulbus and other Fritillaria species with little or no medicinal value. The accurate identification of different types of Fritillariae Bulbus is very difficult due to the morphological similarities between the plants and dried bulbs; therefore, it is necessary to accurately identify these herbal medicines and other Fritillaria species based on their genetic characteristics. To find molecular markers for Fritillaria species and elucidate the genomic characteristics of F. thunbergii, we sequenced the complete chloroplast (cp) genome of F. thunbergii and performed a comparative analysis with related plant taxa. The complete cp genome of F. thunbergii is 152,155 bp with a quadripartite structure, which is similar to other plants, and was highly similar to previously reported Fritillaria cp genomes in regard to gene content, order, orientation, and GC contents. Comparative analysis of the cp genomes identified two genes, matK and rps16, that contained sufficient markers to distinguish between two herbal medicines (Fritillariae Thunbergii and Fritillariae Hupehensis Bulbus) and five Fritillaria species. These results provide useful information for identification of Fritillaria species and quality control of Fritillariae Bulbus.