title: Efficiency of matK, rbcL, trnH-psbA, and trnL-F (cpDNA) to Molecularly Authenticate Philippine Ethnomedicinal Apocynaceae Through DNA Barcoding.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Philippines is home to some ethnomedicinal Apocynaceae that has been used to cure common ailments. They are perceived to be safe, but misidentification can lead to substitution and adulteration. Morphological characters are primarily utilized to identify these species but a new method utilizing molecular characters called DNA barcoding has emerged. In this study, the efficiency of matK, rbcL, trnH-psbA, and trnL-F to molecularly authenticate selected Apocynaceae species were tested.
  
  
  METHODS
  Genomic DNA from silica-dried leaf samples were isolated and used as a template for generating DNA barcodes. Pair-wise sequence divergence using Kimura-2-Parameter was used to analyze inter-specific and intraspecific variations among the barcodes, whereas basic local alignment search tool (BLAST) and neighbor-joining (NJ) analyses were employed to examine discrimination success.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results show that matK is the best barcode for Apocynaceae as it has the highest amplification and sequencing success together with rbcL while having high inter-specific and low intra-specific divergence relative to the other candidate barcodes. Furthermore, matK provided the highest discrimination both in BLAST and NJ analyses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study proposes the use of matK as the principal barcode for Apocynaceae.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both matK and rbcL have higher universality compared to trnH-psbA and trnL-F matK has relatively high inter-specific divergence and very minimal intra-specific divergencematK is the best barcode to molecularly authenticate Apocynaceae with either trnH-psbA or trnL-F as supplements. Abbreviations used: K2P: Kimura-2-parameter, BLAST: Basic local alignment search tool, NJ: Neighbor-joining.
authors: The Graduate School, University of Santo Tomas, España, Manila 1015, Philippines, College of Arts and Sciences, Notre Dame of Dadiangas University, General Santos City 9500, Philippines.
authors: Vincent Louie Domingo
authors: VL
authors: Cabelin
authors: The Graduate School and Research Center for the Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Santo Tomas, España, Manila 1015, Philippines.
authors: Grecebio Jonathan Duran
authors: GJ
authors: Alejandro
keywords: Apocynaceae; DNA barcoding; ethnomedicinal; molecular authentication