DNA barcoding and medicinal plants

Abstract

Medicinal plants are used in several societies. It has been practiced worldwide for centuries to use herbs for maintaining a healthy life, especially for chronic diseases. Now a days, people from developed countries are also increasingly using traditional medicine as an alternative or alongside modern medicines. The medicinal plants to be used must be correctly identified for our safety. For a long time, expert botanists have identified medicinal plants based on morphological characteristics, and analytical techniques have been used to determine their quality. But neither morphological features nor previous analytical methods can easily identify closely related species and in cases involving powders or processed products obtained from plants, it is difficult to identify adulteration. DNA barcoding is an emerging molecular identification and classification technology that has been applied to medicinal plants since 2008. The application of this technique has greatly ensured the safety and effectiveness of medicinal materials. From single locus-based DNA barcodes to combined markers to genome-scale levels, DNA barcodes contribute more and more genetic information. At the same time, other technologies, such as high-resolution melting (HRM), have been combined with DNA barcoding. With the development of next-generation sequencing (NGS), metabarcoding technology has also been shown to successfully identify species in mixed samples. As a widely used and effective tool, DNA barcoding will become more useful over time in the field of medicinal plants.