title: Identification of marine traditional Chinese medicine dried seahorses in the traditional Chinese medicine market using DNA barcoding.
abstract: Seahorse documented in Chinese pharmacopeia possess important medicinal efficacy and are used as an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicines. The growing international trade threatens the species. DNA barcoding holds a great application potentiality in wildlife conservation and might prevent the illegal trade of threatened species. The COI gene was used to identify seahorse, and nine Hippocampus species were found in the three large traditional Chinese medicines markets of China. All inter-specific genetic variations were larger than 2%. Mean genetic distances between species were 17-fold larger than those within the species. Phylogenetic tree showed that each species clustered in the appropriate branch. All results demonstrated that COI-based barcoding technique could be used to identify seahorse species and played a major role in monitoring the seahorse trade.
authors.affiliation: a Pharmacy College, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine , Chengdu , China.|b The Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Standardization of Chinese Herbal Medicine , Chengdu , China.|c Key Laboratory of Systematic Research, Development and Utilization of Chinese Medicine Resources in Sichuan Province , Chengdu , China.|d Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Co-founded by Sichuan Province and MOST , Chengdu , China.
authors.forename: Feixia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.affiliation: e Dujiangyan Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital , Chengdu , Sichuan , China.
authors.forename: Longlian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.affiliation: a Pharmacy College, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine , Chengdu , China.|b The Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Standardization of Chinese Herbal Medicine , Chengdu , China.|c Key Laboratory of Systematic Research, Development and Utilization of Chinese Medicine Resources in Sichuan Province , Chengdu , China.|d Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Co-founded by Sichuan Province and MOST , Chengdu , China.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: a Pharmacy College, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine , Chengdu , China.|b The Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Standardization of Chinese Herbal Medicine , Chengdu , China.|c Key Laboratory of Systematic Research, Development and Utilization of Chinese Medicine Resources in Sichuan Province , Chengdu , China.|d Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Co-founded by Sichuan Province and MOST , Chengdu , China.
authors.forename: Jinlin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002681:China; D058893:DNA Barcoding, Taxonomic; D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV / Q000235:genetics; D056727:Endangered Species; D050259:Genes, Mitochondrial; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D010802:Phylogeny; D023701:Smegmamorpha / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D003576:Electron Transport Complex IV
keywords: DNA barcoding; Seahorse; trade monitoring; traditional Chinese medicines