Abstract:

To identify Scutellaria baicalensis and its adulterants, the chloroplast DNA sequences of trnL intron as well as the trnL-F non-coding region from S. baicalensis and its congener adulterants, S. amoena, S. rehderiana, and S. viscidula, were amplified and analyzed, with sequencing by PCR. The result showed there were no obvious differences of the length, and the nucleotide contents were investigated among S. baicalensis and its adulterants. However, there were 3, 16, 2 and 2 specific nucleotides polymorphisms which were specific to S. baicalensis, S. amoena, S. rehderiana, and S. viscidula were identified. The trnL-F DNA region could be used as an effective molecular marker to discriminate S. baicalensis and its adulterants. The DNA technology in drug species' discrimination of Scutellaria provided a reliable and simple reference for authentication of them.