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Abstract
Dendrobium officinale is not only an ornamental plant, but also a valuable medicinal
herb that is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. However, distinguishing
D. officinale from other Dendrobium species is usually a difficult task. In this
study, we developed a rapid identification protocol for D. officinale using the
loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method. A set of primers were specifically
designed to detect a modified internal transcribed spacer region of D. officinale
at 65 °C within 40 min after adding SYBR® Green I, which was used for the detection
of D. officinale. Unlike commonly used adulterants, reaction mixtures containing
D. officinale DNA changed from orange to green, and this color change was easily
observed with the naked eye. Thus, this methodology can be used to accurately differentiate
D. officinale from other Dendrobium species, is quick as all D. officinale samples
were amplified within 40 min, and specific as samples of the adulterants were not
amplified. The specificity of this LAMP-based method was confirmed by testing 17 samples
of D. officinale and 32 adulterant samples from other Dendrobium species. This
LAMP-based rapid identification method does not require expensive equipment or specialized
techniques and can be used in field surveys for accurate and fast on-site identification.
Author and article information
Journal
Title:
Chinese Journal of Natural Medicines
Abbreviated Title:
Chinese Journal of Natural Medicines