Identification of common horsetail (Equisetum arvense L.; Equisetaceae) using Thin Layer Chromatography versus DNA barcoding

TY - JOUR

T1 - Identification of common horsetail (Equisetum arvense L.; Equisetaceae) using Thin Layer Chromatography versus DNA barcoding

AU - Saslis Lagoudakis, Haris

AU - Bruun-Lund, Sam

AU - Iwanycki, Natalie Eva

AU - Seberg, Ole

AU - Petersen, Gitte

AU - Jäger, Anna

AU - Rønsted, Nina

PY - 2015/7/13

Y1 - 2015/7/13

N2 - The global herbal products market has grown in recent years, making regulation of these products paramount for public healthcare. For instance, the common horsetail (Equisetum arvense L.) is used in numerous herbal products, but it can be adulterated with closely related species, especially E. palustre L. that can produce toxic alkaloids. As morphology-based identification is often difficult or impossible, the identification of processed material can be aided by molecular techniques. In this study, we explore two molecular identification techniques as methods of testing the purity of these products: a Thin Layer Chromatography approach (TLC-test) included in the European Pharmacopoeia and a DNA barcoding approach, used in recent years to identify material in herbal products. We test the potential of these methods for distinguishing and identifying these species using material from herbarium collections and commercial herbal products. We find that both methods can discriminate between the two species and positively identify E. arvense. The TLC-test is more cost- and time-efficient, but DNA barcoding is more powerful in determining the identity of adulterant species. Our study shows that, although DNA barcoding presents certain advantages, other established laboratory methods can perform as well or even better in confirming species' identity in herbal products.

AB - The global herbal products market has grown in recent years, making regulation of these products paramount for public healthcare. For instance, the common horsetail (Equisetum arvense L.) is used in numerous herbal products, but it can be adulterated with closely related species, especially E. palustre L. that can produce toxic alkaloids. As morphology-based identification is often difficult or impossible, the identification of processed material can be aided by molecular techniques. In this study, we explore two molecular identification techniques as methods of testing the purity of these products: a Thin Layer Chromatography approach (TLC-test) included in the European Pharmacopoeia and a DNA barcoding approach, used in recent years to identify material in herbal products. We test the potential of these methods for distinguishing and identifying these species using material from herbarium collections and commercial herbal products. We find that both methods can discriminate between the two species and positively identify E. arvense. The TLC-test is more cost- and time-efficient, but DNA barcoding is more powerful in determining the identity of adulterant species. Our study shows that, although DNA barcoding presents certain advantages, other established laboratory methods can perform as well or even better in confirming species' identity in herbal products.

U2 - 10.1038/srep11942

DO - 10.1038/srep11942

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 26165523

SN - 2045-2322

VL - 5

JO - Scientific Reports

JF - Scientific Reports

M1 - 11942

ER -