Chloroplast mini-barcodes combined with high resolution melting analysis to identify herbal medicine Difengpi (Illicium difengpi)

Bibliographic Details
Title: Chloroplast mini-barcodes combined with high resolution melting analysis to identify herbal medicine Difengpi (Illicium difengpi)
Authors: Qian-Ru Zhou, Yun-Ying Ma, Hu-Qiang Lv, Zhao-Cen Lu, Li-Sheng Wang, Jun-Song Liang, Jing-Jian Li
Source: Heliyon, Vol 10, Iss 19, Pp e38700- (2024)
Publisher Information: Elsevier, 2024.
Publication Year: 2024
Collection: LCC:Science (General)
LCC:Social sciences (General)
Subject Terms: Herbal medicine safety, Illicium difengpi, Chloroplast genome, Mini-barcode, HRM assay, Species identification, Science (General), Q1-390, Social sciences (General), H1-99
More Details: Difengpi, derived from the air-dried stem bark of Illicium difengpi and enlisted in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia for its therapeutic effect against common ailments, confronts challenges due to dwindling wild resources and intentional substitution with potentially harmful botanical relatives. The imperative need to authenticate this herbal remedy has led to the development of robust methods. Here, we integrated chloroplast mini-barcoding and high resolution melting (HRM) analysis to distinguish Difengpi from the reported adulterants. We assembled the complete chloroplast (cp) genomes of I. difengpi and substituted close relatives I. jiadifengpi and I. majus, and conducted an in-depth comparative analysis to screen divergent regions for exploiting as DNA mini-barcodes. Despite the conservativeness characterizing the whole cp genomes among these Illicium species, we identified some highly variable regions with promising potential as molecular markers for species identification. Subsequently, we designed DNA mini-barcodes and subjected them to HRM analysis to assess their efficacy in species discrimination. Melting profiles unveiled that mini-barcodes designed from four divergence regions trnL–trnF, trnF–ndhJ, ycf1–ndhF and rpl32–trnL exhibited substantial discriminatory power, distinctly differentiated I. difengpi from I. jiadifengpi, I. majus and I. verum. We tested ten commercially available Difengpi products from online stores and local traditional markets using these four mini-barcodes. All ten samples clustered closely with the reference I. difengpi with genotype confidence higher than 93 %, indicating the presence of the claimed species in these samples, sans any reported toxic adulterants. Consequently, we simulated Difengpi mimic samples utilizing I. jiadifengpi, I. majus and I. verum and subjected them to evaluate the practicability of these mini-barcodes. The outcomes confirmed the precision of the four mini-barcodes in accurately discerning the mimic samples. In conclusion, integrating taxon-specific DNA mini-barcodes with HRM analysis is an efficient strategy for the authentication of species identity within commercial herbal products.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 2405-8440
Relation: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844024147317; https://doaj.org/toc/2405-8440
DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e38700
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/7ac2db11ad274233a8a5211f2de0fc70
Accession Number: edsdoj.7ac2db11ad274233a8a5211f2de0fc70
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:24058440
DOI:10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e38700
Published in:Heliyon
Language:English