Use of rbcL sequences for DNA barcoding and authentication of plant drugs used in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine has become increasingly popular in Europe and North America.There is evidence that quality control in terms of species authentication is sometimes inappropriate. Repeated incidents of adulterations and wrong identification, some even with serious consequences have occurred recently. The necessity of a quality control for TCM drugs to avoid these incidents is given since many years. DNA barcoding was used in this study to authenticate drugs which are often used in Chinese herbal medicine. 37 plants from 28 families were identified using nucleotide sequences of the rbcL gene. Only one adulteration could be detected. Both the advantages and limitations of rbcL as a marker gene for identification were analysed and discussed. We could show that DNA barcoding is a valid and fast method to identify medicinal herbs, showing some advantages over chemical profiling because of its universal application even for unknown plant species.