Molecular Diagnostic Markers for Authentication and Early Sexing Of Coscinium Fenestratum Gaertn Colebr

Abstract

The extensive consumption of medicinal plants from wild to meet the supply and newlinedemand ratio exerts a heavy strain on the natural resources. This subsequently led to newlineadulteration and substitution of the medicinal plants with look-alike species. The newlineconsumer s faith on herbal medicine is in the phase of decline due to the extremities in newlineadulteration/substitution and ensuing consequences. It is imperative to bring forth newlineuniversally acceptable standard tools to authenticate ayurvedic raw drugs before being newlineprocessed further into formulations. Herbal drugs, its substituents and adulterants have newlinebeen studied at length using various techniques but a clear-cut approach to safeguard its newlineutility is yet to be defined. Although there are several recommended methods for proper newlineidentification varying from the traditional taxonomic to organoleptic and newlinephysiochemical, it is extremely difficult to authenticate ayurvedic raw drugs available in newlinedried, powdered or shredded form. DNA barcoding has made remarkable progress in the newlinefield of medicinal plants research. newlineIn this study, DNA barcoding has been used for authentication and illicit trade of newlineCoscinium fenestratum (Gaertn.) Colebr. using Consortium for Barcode of Life newline(CBOL) recommended standard barcode regions viz. maturase K (matK), ribulose-1, 5- newlinebisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase large subunit (rbcL), nuclear ribosomal Internal newlineTranscribed Spacer (nrDNA- ITS) and psbA-trnH spacer regions. These four barcode newlineregions were used for the Biological Reference Material (BRM) Library creation of newlineDNA barcode database. rbcL region was used for the authentication of raw drug newlinesamples available in market, due to its amplification efficiency and species newlinediscrimination power as compared to other barcode regions. Further, an integrated newlineanalytical approach involving Maximum Likelihood phylogenetic tree and Machine newlineLearning Approach (MLA) - Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis (WEKA) newlinewere employed to prove efficacy of these methods newline