Molecularauthentication Of Selected Commerciallysold Medicinal Plants In Quiapo Manila Philippines

Abstract This study aims to identify and authenticate selected medicinal plants commercially sold in Manila and assess the most effective DNA barcodes using three chloroplast markers trnH-psbA matK rbcL and a nuclear markerITS. Among the four evaluated markers trnH-psbA was the most easily amplified followed by matK and ITS. The ITSmarker gave 100 sequencing success rate followed by trnH-psbA and matK at 82 and 78 respectively. In the BLAST analysis matK proved to be the most successful and useful marker for identifying all samples up to the species level. For trnH-psbA 7 out of 10 medicinal plants were identified to species level. Furthermore the mean interspecific divergence computed using K2P revealed that matK had only 0.7 0-1.6followed byITS and trnH-psbA with 0.11 0-2.6 and 0.16 0-9.7. In line with the BLAST result matK can discriminate one species to another due to the minimal intraspecific divergence. In conclusion matK and trnH-psbA are potential barcodes for identifying commercially sold medicinal plants where details of plant morphology are insufficient.