Molecular identification of four medicinal plants using DNA barcoding approach from Chittagong, Bangladesh

Accurate identification of important plants is essential for their safety, efficacy and herbal remedies. The study was aimed to identify 4 locally available medicinal plants using DNA barcoding approach. Genomic DNA was extracted from plant samples followed by their amplification by the conventional PCR approach. Short sequence diversity of standardized specific coding gene regions of matK gene of plastid genome was used to compare and differentiate the plant species. Subsequently, all the samples were purified and sequenced successfully. A phylogenetic tree was constructed to assess their cross-species relationship. All the samples showed a high similarity rate with their homologs after blasting them in NCBI database. The phylogenetic study showed a distinguished relationship with each other. All the result indicates that DNA barcoding approach could be successfully used for reliable identification of medicinal plants and matK gene is a good candidate for this approach.