Planta Med 2021; 87(07): 528-537
DOI: 10.1055/a-1379-3249
Natural Product Chemistry and Analytical Studies
Original Papers

DNA Barcoding of St. Johnʼs wort (Hypericum spp.) Growing Wild in North-Eastern Greece

Ioanna Pyrka
1   Postgraduate Studies Program, Conservation of Biodiversity and Sustainable Exploitation of Native Plants (BNP), School of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
,
Anastasia Stefanaki
2   Biosystematics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
,
1   Postgraduate Studies Program, Conservation of Biodiversity and Sustainable Exploitation of Native Plants (BNP), School of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
3   Department of Botany, School of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
4   Natural Products Research Centre of Excellence (NatPro-AUTh), Center of Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (CIRI-AUTh), Thessaloniki, Greece
› Institutsangaben

Gefördert durch: European Regional Development Fund MIS 5002803 Gefördert durch: National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF), Research Funding Programme of the Action RESEARCH – CREATE – INNOVATE AROMADISTIL – 95783
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Abstract

Plants of the genus Hypericum, commonly known as “St. Johnʼs wort” (“spathohorto” or “valsamo” in Greek), have been used since antiquity for their therapeutic properties. Wild-harvested Hypericum plants are still popular today in herbal medicines, commercially exploited due to their bioactive compounds, hypericin and hyperforin, which have antidepressant, antimicrobial and antiviral activity. Species identification of commercial products is therefore important and DNA barcoding, a molecular method that uses small sequences of organismsʼ genome as barcodes, can be useful in this direction. In this study, we collected plants of the genus Hypericum that grow wild in North-Eastern Greece and explored the efficiency of matK, and trnH-psbA regions as DNA barcodes for their identification. We focused on 5 taxa, namely H. aucheri, H. montbretii, H. olympicum, H. perforatum subsp. perforatum, and H. thasium, the latter a rare Balkan endemic species collected for the first time from mainland Greece. matK (using the genus-specific primers designed herein), trnH-psbA, and their combination were effectively used for the identification of the 5 Hypericum taxa and the discrimination of different H. perforatum subsp. perforatum populations. These barcodes were also able to discriminate Greek populations of H. perforatum, H. aucheri, H. montbretii, and H. olympicum from populations of the same species growing in other countries.

Supporting Information



Publikationsverlauf

Eingereicht: 10. Oktober 2020

Angenommen nach Revision: 28. Januar 2021

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
22. Februar 2021

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