Identification and phylogenetic analysis of selected medicinal plant species from Pakistan: DNA barcoding approach

摘要

Proper identification of medicinally important plant species is useful for their efficient utilization as food and medicine. Seventy eight species belonging to different plant families were characterized through chloroplast DNA gene sequences of rbc L, mat K and intergenic spacer region psb A- trn H. These species were used to search possible relationships through phylogenetic analysis. The phylogenetic tree based on mat K (~800 bp), rbc L (~1400 bp) and psb A- trnH (~500 bp) sequences showed 6, 8 and 4 diverged groups, respectively. Our analysis suggests that Ajuga bracteosa, Salvia aegyptiaca, Bupleurum falcatum and Acorus calamus are highly diverged from rest of seventy four different species. Based on the results of medicinal plants from Pakistan, we validate that mat K and rbc L are more useful as barcode for studying large population of plant species. The present study is useful for authentic identification of new plant species and clearly shows high degree of intra-specific and inter-specific evolutionary relation among all tested species from different medicinally important plant families. Our findings suggest that proper identification of some of the plant species is still challenging and these unique species need further studies. The present study can serve as a model to identify and differentiate new medicinal plant species from Pakistan and neighboring countries through similar methods.