Planta Med 2009; 75 - PB36
DOI: 10.1055/s-0029-1234448

Using DNA barcoding to authentication of Cistanches and its fakements

JP Han 1, JY Song 1, LC Shi 1, J Chen 1, J Qian 1, YJ Zhu 1, C Liu 3, H Yao 1, SL Chen 1, 2
  • 1Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Peking Union Medical College & Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100193, P.R. China
  • 2Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, Wuhan, Hubei, 430065, P.R. China
  • 3Molecular Chinese Medicine Laboratory, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, P.R. China

DNA barcoding has been designed as a system to facilitate species identification and recognition. One of the challenges in barcoding, however, is to discrimination of closely related species. The dried succulent stems of Cistanches (Cistanche deserticola and Cistanche tubulosa.) are one of the most widely used traditional Chinese medicines. However, it is often confused and substituted with the roots of Orobanche pycnostachya var. pycnostachya, Boschniakia rossica, Cistanche salsa, and Cistanche sinensis. The results showed that the region of psbA-trnH had significant variation and showed promise for barcoding in cistanches. Additionally, the genetic distance of psbA-trnH sequences was found to be significantly different from those of other species, with percentages of variation ranging from 0.050 to 1.238%. In contrast, the intraspecific variation among cistanches species studied ranged from 0 to 0.033%. The sequence difference between the psbA-trnH sequences of cistanches species and one Orobanche pycnostachya var. pycnostachya ranged from 0.381 to 1.308%. The monophyletic branches of the phylogenetic tree reveal that the psbA-trnH intergenic region is suitable for discrimination between these species.

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[2] Lahaye, R. et al. (2008) P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 105: 2923–2928.