title: Molecular identification of Corni Fructus and its adulterants by ITS/ITS2 sequences.
abstract: The DNA barcoding method was used to accurately and rapidly identify Corni Fructus and its adulterants.
  
  
  METHODS
  Genomic DNA extracted from Corni Fructus and its adulterants were used as templates. The ITS (internal trascribed spacer) regions were amplified using polymerase chain reaction. Sequence assembly was performed using CodonCode Aligner V 3.5.4. Genetic distances were computed using MEGA V 5.0. Species identification was conducted using neighbor-joining (NJ) trees.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The ITS sequence length of Corni Fructus was 659 bp. The average intra-specific genetic distance of Corni Fructus was 0.005, markedly lower than the inter-specific genetic distance between Corni Fructus and its adulterants (0.357). The ITS2 sequence length of Corni Fructus was 250 bp. No variation was found among the different samples. The interspecific genetic distance of ITS2 between Corni Fructus and its adulterants was 0.571. NJ trees and BLAST results indicated that Corni Fructus and its adulterants can be easily differentiated with monophyly.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ITS/ITS2 regions can accurately and efficiently distinguish Corni Fructus and its adulterants. In addition, the results not only established the foundation for the clinical safety in the utilization of Corni Fructus, but also provided reference for molecular identification of other Chinese herbal medicine and Chinese herbal pieces.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medicinal Plant Development (IMPLAD), Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Dian-Yun
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Jing-Yuan
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Jian-Ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Xiao-Hui
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.forename: Lin-Chun
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Xiao-Chen
authors.initials: XC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shi-Lin
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D029768:Cornus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000235:genetics*; D004340:Drug Contamination; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D058889:Molecular Typing / Q000379:methods*; D010802:Phylogeny; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D018744:DNA, Plant; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer