[Study on molecular identification of water extracts from Gelsemium elegans and Lonicera japonica and its close species by specific PCR amplification].

Objective: To explore the new method of discriminating Gelsemium elegans from Lonicera japonica and its close species by using specific PCR amplification.
Method: Thirteen samples of the different G. elegans materials and 58 samples of L. japonica, L. macranthoides and L. dasystyla were collected. The total DNA of the samples were extracted, and the DNA of G. elegans, L. japonica and L. macranthoides water extracts were extracted. PsbA-rnnH sequence from G. elegans was amplified by PCR and sequenced unidirectionally, ClustulW was used to align psbA-trnH sequences of the G. elegans and L. japonica and its close species from GenBank database.
Result: All samples were amplified by PCR with specific primer, DNA from G. elegans would be amplified 97 bp whereas PCR products from all of Lonicera samples had not bands.
Conclusion: Specific PCR amplification can be used to identify G. elegans from L. japonica and its close species successfully and is an efficient molecular marker for authentication of G. elegans and L. japonica and its close species.