[Comparison of DNA barcoders in identifying medicinal materials]

Abstract

The DNA barcoding of traditional Chinese medicine was summarized in this article. Based on analyzing a number of research findings, the authors discussed the possibility of nuclear DNA sequence and chloroplast genes in identifying medicinal materials. ITS was considered to evolve faster, which was used for plant molecular systematics analysis and species identification,while ITS2 was more suitable to identify medicinal materials. So, it is important that we should select suitable DNA sequences as barcodes based on the objective of a study. With the cost reduction of sequencing, identifying medicinal materials by cp-genome barcoding would be applied broadly and effectively in the future.