Molecular Authentication of Single Drug Herbal Powders Using DNA Barcoding

Abstract

The increasing popularity of herbal drugs as a substitute for allopathic newlinemedicine has underscored the urgent need for thorough authentication methods, newlineespecially for powdered herbal products susceptible to adulteration. This comprehensive newlinestudy, conducted in Tamil Nadu, India, primarily focused on 107 single-drug herbal newlinepowders obtained from 65 different species spanning 60 genera and 35 families. newlineAuthentication was performed using DNA barcoding with the rbcL marker. The results newlineshowed that 54% of the samples were legitimate, whereas 46% showed varying levels newlineof adulteration. The analysis unveiled a wide range of complex and varied adulteration newlinepatterns. According to estimates, unintentional cross-contamination during the newlineprocessing stage caused the presence of multiple species in about 41% of adulterant newlinesamples. In 59% of cases, it was discovered that the genuine species was completely newlinereplaced with different species not related in terms of taxonomy or medicinal properties. newlineThis finding further complicates the difficulties associated with ensuring quality control. newlineSignificantly, 20% of the adulterant species had a physical similarity to the expected newlinespecies, raising inquiries concerning the deliberate utilization of such species as newlineadulterants. A detailed study on one single-drug herbal powder was executed on newlineOcimum tenuiflorum, often known as Tulsi, a medicinal plant with a wide range of newlinetherapeutic uses. In this case, the study primarily addressed the importance of quickly newlinedistinguishing between green and purple Tulsi plants because the amount of methyl newlineeugenol (ME), a chemical that is moderately toxic and could cause cancer, varies. To newlineaddress this issue, a technique called allele-specific PCR (AS-PCR) was devised. This newlineapproach focuses on a particular single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) located in the newlineycf1 gene in the chloroplast genome. The chloroplast genome of O. gratissimum was newlinesequenced and compared with other Ocimum species to identify markers specific to the newlineO. tenuiflorum subtypes. The AS-PCR techni