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Molecular authentication of the traditional Tibetan medicinal plant Swertia mussotii

Authors Xue, Chun-Ying; Li, De-Zhu; Lu, Jin-Mei; Yang, Jun-Bo; Liu, Jian-Quan

Journal PLANTA MEDICA , OCT 2006,13:72

DOI 10.1055/s-2006-951695 PubMed 17051455

Abstract Swertia mussotii is an important species in Tibetan folk medicine. However, it is quite expensive and frequently adulterated, so reliable methods for authentication of putative specimens and preparations of the species are needed to protect consumers and to support conservation measures. We show here that the chloroplast (cp) DNA rpl16 intron has limited utility for differentiating S. mussotii from closely related species, since the cpDNA rpl16 sequences are identical in S. mussotii and two other species of Swertia. However, the rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences differ significantly between S. mussotii and all of 13 tested potential adulterants. Thus, the ITS region provides a robust molecular marker for differentiating the medicinal S. mussotii from related adulterants. Therefore, a pair of allele-specific diagnostic primers based on the divergent ITS region was designed to distinguish S. mussotii from the other species. Authentication by allele-specific diagnostic PCR using these primers is convenient, effective and both simpler and less time-consuming than sequencing the ITS region.

Species covered 川西獐牙菜 Swertia mussotii