title: Medicinal plants recommended by the world health organization: DNA barcode identification associated with chemical analyses guarantees their quality.
abstract: Medicinal plants are used throughout the world, and the regulations defining their proper use, such as identification of the correct species and verification of the presence, purity and concentration of the required chemical compounds, are widely recognized. Herbal medicines are made from vegetal drugs, the processed products of medicinal species. These processed materials present a number of challenges in terms of botanical identification, and according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the use of incorrect species is a threat to consumer safety. The samples used in this study consisted of the dried leaves, flowers and roots of 257 samples from 8 distinct species approved by the WHO for the production of medicinal herbs and sold in Brazilian markets. Identification of the samples in this study using DNA barcoding (matK, rbcL and ITS2 regions) revealed that the level of substitutions may be as high as 71%. Using qualitative and quantitative chemical analyses, this study identified situations in which the correct species was being sold, but the chemical compounds were not present. Even more troubling, some samples identified as substitutions using DNA barcoding contained the chemical compounds from the correct species at the minimum required concentration. This last situation may lead to the use of unknown species or species whose safety for human consumption remains unknown. This study concludes that DNA barcoding should be used in a complementary manner for species identification with chemical analyses to detect and quantify the required chemical compounds, thus improving the quality of this class of medicines.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-graduação em Genética, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Myleus Biotechnology Research Team, Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Grupo de Genômica e Biologia Computacional, Centro de Pesquisa Rene Rachou, FIOCRUZ, Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
authors.forename: Rafael Melo
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Palhares
authors.affiliation: Myleus Biotechnology Research Team, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gonçalves Drummond
authors.affiliation: EMBRAPA Agroenergia, Brasilia, Brazil.
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dos Santos Alves Figueiredo Brasil
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Farmacognosia, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
authors.forename: Gustavo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pereira Cosenza
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Farmacognosia, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brasil; CEPLAMT, Museu de História Natural e Jardim Botânico & Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: das Graças Lins Brandão
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Genômica e Biologia Computacional, Centro de Pesquisa Rene Rachou, FIOCRUZ, Belo Horizonte, Brasil.
authors.forename: Guilherme
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Oliveira
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic / Q000379:methods; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D035264:Flowers / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000235:genetics; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000235:genetics; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000379:methods; D014944:World Health Organization
chemical_list: D018744:DNA, Plant