Assessment of classification ability of ITS-rDNA region on Mahonia bealei (Fortune) Pynaert in Vietnam.

Abstract

Mahonia bealei is a valuable medicinal plant with high economic value and a narrow range of distribution. It is one of the most widely used medicinal herbs in traditional medicine. In the past, this species was plentiful but due to over-exploitation and trading, it has sharply declined in both quantity and quality. At present, M. bealei is listed on Vietnam’s Red List at the endangered level (EN). DNA barcoding is considered a popular technique with high accuracy for species identification by sequencing of specific DNA fragments. In this research, the authors studied molecular characteristics of the ITS-rDNA region and assessed of classification ability of this DNA marker on M. bealei in Vietnam. The result showed that the ITS with 700 bp in length contained 24.1% Thymin, 28.4% Guanine, 23.4% Adenine, and 24.1% Cytosine. The average genetic difference between the Mahonia genus and Berberis genus is 2.36% while other genera are from 17 to 22%. The result also demonstrated this ITS-rDNA region might be suitable for identification for Mahonia bealei as well as studying the phylogenetic of Berberidaceae. Specific primer to amplify the ITS genome in the length of 300 bp of M. bealei species has also been developed and synthesised, usefully contributing to M. bealei identification and conservation. The ITS-300 sequence of M. bealei was registered on the Genbank with accession number MT 008067.