Journal of Biotechnology & Biomaterials
Open Access

Abstract

Genus Paeonia is an important medicinal plant in Asian traditional medicines. Among Paeonia species, P. lactiflora, P. japonica, P. veitchii, and P. suffruiticosa are pharmaceutically defined in different ways in the national pharmacopoeias in Korea, Japan, and China. The roots of three Paeonia species, P. lactiflora, P. japonica and P. veitchii, commonly has been used as Paeoniae Radix, and the root bark of P. suffruticosa has been used as Moutan Radicis Cortex in Korean Traditional Herbal Medicine. However, only the roots of P. lactifolora and root bark of P. suffruticosa is pharmaceutically described as Paeoniae Radix and Moutan Radicis Cortex, respectively, in the pharmacopoeia of China and Japan. Since the morphological similarities of root and aerial part of these species, the identification of accurate species is very difficult. In addition, these herbal medicines bistributed as dried root slices or processed medicinal ingredients in the herbal market. Therefore, it is important to authenticate the different species used in these herbal medicines. So, we analyzed DNA barcode sequence of rDNA-ITS region using 17 samples of four Paeonia species and then obtained species-specific marker nucleotides that can be used as genetic markers to identify these four plants at the species levels. Based on rDNA-ITS sequences, peptide nucleic acids (PNA) analysis which is of probe-based fluorescence melting curve analysis was carried out to develop a powerful technique for detecting species-specific point mutations, namely marker nucleotide or single nucleotide polymorphism, capable to discriminate the four Paeonia species without sequence analysis. Also, this method can provide rapid and efficient authentication of four Paeonia species. Therefore, PNA analysis of four herbaceous Paeonia species will help to accurately authenticate each species and standardize the origin and quality of Paeoniae Radix and Moutan Radicis Cortex.

Biography

Wook Jin Kim is currently a Senior Research Scientist at the Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (KIOM), South Korea. He has been working on development of DNA marker for discriminating between authentic medicinal plant species and adulterants since 2012.

Email: ukgene@kiom.re.kr