Relevance of genetic and active ingredient content differences in Leonurus japonicus Houtt from different origins

Abstract

Abstract Leonurus japonicus Houtt. (Labiatae), a perennial herb, is used to treat cardiovascular, uterine, and gynecological diseases. In the present study, a phylogenetic tree was constructed based on the ITS + psbA-trnH + rbcL + rpoB concatenation sequence, and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was performed based on high-performance liquid chromatography. The phylogenetic tree and PLS-DA were combined to correlate genetic and chemical differences among L. japonicus derived from different origins. The results showed that the concatenation sequence could distinguish among L. japonicus from different origins. Moreover, chemical analysis revealed intergroup differences, but the results were not of sufficiently high quality as that of molecular phylogeny. Furthermore, the results of combined chemical and phylogenetic analyses suggested that differences in metabolites are influenced by not only genetic differences but also environmental factors. These results provide valuable information for the artificial cultivation of L. japonicus and new ideas for improving its quality.