• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.25-35
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• 2018

Objectives : Lepidii seu Descurainiae Semen has been frequently adulterated with the seeds of several inauthentic plant species. However, the accurate identification of these plant seeds is very difficult. To develop a reliable genetic authentication tool for Lepidii seu Descurainiae Semen, we analyzed matK sequence. Methods : To obtain the matK sequences of plant materials, genomic DNA was extracted from 24 samples and PCR amplification was carried out using matK-AF/matK-8R universal primer set and matK-LDSF/matK-LDSR primer set. For identifying species-specific nucleotides and phylogenetic analysis, matK regions were sequenced and comparatively analyzed by the ClustalW and Maximum Likelihood method. Results : We developed a new primer set to amplify matK region in Lepidii seu Descurainiae Semen and closely related plant samples. From the comparative analysis of matK sequences, we identified species-specific marker nucleotides for D. sophia, L. apetalum, L. latifolium, E. cheiranthoides, E. macilentum, and D. nemorosa, respectively. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis revealed clear classification depending on the species. These results indicated that the matK sequence obtained a new primer set in this study was useful to identify Lepidii seu Descurainiae Semen in species level. Conclusions : We developed a primer set and identified species-specific marker nucleotides enough to distinguish authentic Lepidii seu Descurainiae Semen and adulterants at the species level based on the matK sequences. These genetic tool will be useful to prevent adulteration and to standardize the quality of Lepidii seu Descurainiae Semen.