title: Molecular identification of Astragalus membranaceus at the species and locality levels.
abstract: Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch.) Bunge, a commonly used Chinese medicinal material, from certain localities contains more favourable trace elements and fewer harmful trace elements than those from other localities. Therefore, there is a need to distinguish Astragalus membranaceus from different localities. Internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) of the nuclear ribosomal RNA gene of 23 Astragalus membranaceus samples were sequenced to confirm the species of the samples. Arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction (APPCR) was then used to obtain unique fingerprints for each sample using several primers. The presence and absence of bands were used for calculating mean similarity indexes among the samples. It was found that the Heilongjiang samples were markedly distinguishable from samples of other localities. In addition, bands common for samples from the same locality were also identified and used to distinguish samples from Neimengu and Shanxi. Therefore, Astragalus membranaceus from these provinces, the major cultivation places in China, can be differentiated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong, PR China.
authors.forename: Pui Ying
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Yip
authors.forename: Hoi Shan
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Kwan
mesh_terms: D027885:Astragalus propinquus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D002681:China; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D015138:RNA, Nuclear / Q000235:genetics*; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D018744:DNA, Plant; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; D015138:RNA, Nuclear; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal