Detection of Arisaema yunnanense as adulterant of traditional medicine Pinellia ternata using allele-specific diagnostic polymerase chain reaction (PCR)

摘要

The dried tubers of?Pinellia ternata?(Araceae) have been widely used in traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean medicine. Recently,?Pinellia?tuber has been found to be adulterated with?Arisaema yunnanense?in south?West China?due to its natural resource deficiency. To distinguish between?Pinellia?tuber and?A. yunnanense, the chloroplast?atpB-rbcL intergenic spacers of?P. ternata?and?A. yunnanense?were sequenced and analyzed, and two pairs of diagnostic primers were designed for differentiating?P. ternata?from?A. yunnanense. The amount of?A. yunnanense?thatcan be identified as an adulterant of?Pinellia?tuber?was also investigated. A minimum amount (1:200) of the adulterant?was detected in the sensitivity tests. The present study provides a simple, reliable and sensitive method to authenticate?Pinellia?tuber, and to detect whether it has been adulterated with?A. yunnanense.