title: Molecular authentication of the traditional medicinal plant Peucedanum praeruptorum and its substitutes and adulterants by DNA - barcoding technique.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Peucedanum praeruptorum L., a traditional Chinese medicine known as Qian-hu, is commonly used for dispelling wind-heat and expectorant and loss of energy. However, due to similar morphological characters and high market demand, there are many substitutes and adulterants of P. praeruptorum. DNA barcoding is an approach to identify species based on sequences from a short, standardized DNA region.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To authenticate P. praeruptorum from its substitutes and adulterants.
  
  
  METHODS
  The differential identification of P. praeruptorum and 13 regional substitutes and 23 adulterants was investigated by means of DNA sequence analysis of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA), a bootstrap neighbor-joining (NJ) tree according to Kimura's 2-parameter method was also calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The data showed that P. praeruptorum, its substitutes and adulterants could be easily distinguished at the DNA level, while almost all species were well resolved, and successfully identified on the NJ tree.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The ITS sequence can be used for the identification of P. praeruptorum and to distinguish it from common substitutes and adulterants.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences & Yunnan Key Laboratory of Pharmacology for Nature Products, Kunming Medical University, Kunming 650500, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Economic Plants and Biotechnology, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, China.
authors.forename: Wencai
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Henan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou 450046, China.
authors.forename: Mengqi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Biodiversity and Biogeography of East Asia, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650201, China.
authors.forename: Zhenwen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
keywords: Apiaceae; DNA barcoding; Peucedanumpraeruptorum L.; identification; nrDNA ITS