Identification of traditional chinese medicine rubiae radix et and its adulterants using DNA barcodes / 中国药学杂志

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To identify traditional Chinese medicine Rubiae Radix et Rhizoma and its adulterants using DNA barcodes. METHODS: A total of 317 sequences of psbA-trnH, matK and rbcL from 13 species were analized. The intra- and inter-specific K2P genetic distances and neighbor-joining tree were calculated using MEGA5. 1 program. RESULTS: The DNAs were successfully extracted from 76 original plant samples. The amplification rates of psbA-trnH, matK and rbcL were 100%, 96%, and 99%, respectively. The adulterants could be identified from R. cordifolia by the single marker and the two combinations except for those adulterants in the Rubia genus. Fortunately, R. cordifolia could be identified from all the adulterants by psbA-trnH + matK + rbcL combination marker. The intra- and inter-specific K2P genetic distances of psbA-trnH + matK + rbcL were 0-0.001 4 and 0.000 7-0.630 3. R. cordifolia could be identified from alTthe adulterants by the psbA-trnH + matK + rbcL combination using NJ tree method. Among the 30 unidentified samples of Rubiae Radix et Rhizoma which were collected from medicinal herb markets, all three markers, including psbA-trnH, matK and rbcL, could be amplified from 22 samples. The 11 samples of Rubiae Radix et Rhizoma clustered with R. cordifolia and the others were divided into three clusters by the psbA-trnH + matK + rbcL combination using NJ tree method. CONCLUSION: psbA-trnH + matK + rbcL combination can be used as DNA barcode to identify R. cordifolia from adulterants.