title: DNA barcoding of the Mexican sedative and anxiolytic plant Galphimia glauca.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Galphimia glauca (Malpighiaceae) is a Mexican plant popularly used as a tranquilizer in the treatment of nervous system disorders, although it is also used to treat other common illnesses.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this investigation is to find out if populations of Galphimia glauca collected in different regions and ecosystems in Mexico actually belong to the same species by using the contemporary technique of DNA barcodes. Our previous metabolic profiling study demonstrates that different collections of this plant obtained from various geographical areas exhibited diverse chemical profiles in terms of the active compounds named Galphimines. We expected the DNA barcodes apart from indicating the different species of Galphimia would indicate the active populations.
  
  
  METHODS
  We employed matK, rpoC1 and rbcL DNA barcodes to indicate the different species. Furthermore to investigate the possible impact of the several different ecosystems where the seven populations were collected, thin layer chromatography was employed to create a partial chemical profile, which was then compared with the metabolic profiles obtained by (1)H-NMR and multivariate data analysis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed that the seven populations here analyzed contain at least three different species of the genus Galphimia, although each individual population is homogeneous. Interestingly our TLC analysis clearly showed that the active populations displayed a distinctively unique chemical profile. This work also showed that the use of DNA barcodes combined with chemical profile analysis is an excellent approach to solve the problems of quality control in the development of Galphimia-based medicines as well as for any breeding programs for this species.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigación en Biotecnología, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.
authors.forename: Ashutosh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Jorge Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Folch
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cardoso-Taketa
authors.forename: Argelia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lorence
authors.forename: María Luisa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Villarreal
mesh_terms: D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D031582:Galphimia / Q000235:genetics*; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D008800:Mexico; D010802:Phylogeny; D018515:Plant Leaves; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents; D018744:DNA, Plant; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D010940:Plant Proteins