Study on DNA Extraction Method for Chinese Herbs
中药DNA条形码鉴定中的DNA提取方法研究

This study was aimed to establish a universal DNA extraction method for future research on authentication of Chinese herbal medicine by DNA barcoding. Ten representative specimens belonging to five different medicinal parts were used to evaluate five different DNA extraction methods. The universal DNA extraction method was further modified and evaluated by agarose gel electrophoresis and PCR amplification. Modified CTAB method was a common extraction method for almost all kinds of herbs. The amplification success rate for ITS2 was 90% though DNA degradation occurred in all specimens. The study showed that modified CTAB method was suitable for nine herbs by improving methods on herbal pretreatment, buffer for DNA separation, and concentration of CTAB. The simple and feasible CTAB approach provided a reference method for DNA extraction of herbal medicines.