Application of COI barcode sequence for the identification of snake medicine (Zaocys). (2nd January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cao, Shuping; Guo, Linong; Luo, Huiming; Yuan, Hang; Chen, Shuyun; Zheng, Jian; Lin, Ruichao
• Is Part Of: Mitochondrial DNA. Volume 27:Number 1(2016)
• Page Start: 483
• Page End: 489
• Publication Date: 2016-01-02
• Subjects: Cytochrome Oxidase I -- DNA barcoding -- mitochondrial DNA -- Zaocys
• DOI: 10.3109/19401736.2014.905828
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2380-2359

Abstract

Abstract: Counterfeits in the medicine market make the authentication of snakes used for Chinese medicine a challenge to Chinese drug regulatory control agencies. This paper explores existing methods that can be used to quickly and accurately distinguish Zaocys ( Z. dhumnades ) from its counterfeits for routine identification of snake meats in food and drug control laboratories. In this research, the Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI) fragments of 51 samples from 17 species of snakes were amplified using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and sequenced. The inter- and intra-specific variations of COI sequences were analyzed and compared based on Kimura-2-parameter (K-2P) distances; the minimal interspecific K-2P distance was 0.0934, which was bigger than the maximum intraspecific K-2P distance in Z. dhumnades (0.0523), indicating that Zaocys can be separated from its counterfeits. The Neighbor-Joining (N-J) tree of the snakes was constructed and the results show that snakes of the same species cluster with 100% bootstrap values. Since the Zaocys and its counterfeits are of different species, they can be distinguished using the N-J tree method. Another 10 samples of Zaocys from markets and drug stores were identified at the species level, among which 5 samples were proven to be the counterfeits – Ptyas korros .