Morphological similarity within species makes the identification and authentication of Salvia species challenging, especially in dietary supplements that contain processed root or leaf powder of different sage species. In the present study, the species discriminatory power of 2 potential DNA barcode regions from the nuclear genome was evaluated in 7 medicinally important Salvia species from the family Lamiaceae. The nuclear internal transcribed spacer 2 and the exon 9 – 14 region of low copy nuclear gene WAXY coding for granule-bound starch synthase 1 were tested for their species discrimination ability using distance, phylogenetic, and BLAST-based methods. A novel 2-step PCR method with 2 different annealing temperatures was developed to achieve maximum amplification from genomic DNA. The granule-bound starch synthase 1 region showed higher amplification and sequencing success rates, higher interspecific distances, and a perfect barcode gap for the tested species compared to the nuclear internal transcribed spacer 2. Hence, these novel mini-barcodes generated from low copy nuclear gene regions (granule-bound starch synthase) that were proven to be effective barcodes for identifying 7 Salvia species have potential for identification and authentication of other Salvia species.

中文翻译：

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低拷贝核基因区域，颗粒结合淀粉合酶 (GBSS1)，作为一种用于识别不同鼠尾草 (Salvia) 物种的新型 Mini-DNA 条形码

物种内的形态相似性使得鼠尾草物种的鉴定和鉴定具有挑战性，尤其是在含有不同鼠尾草物种加工根或叶粉的膳食补充剂中。在本研究中，在唇形科的 7 个具有重要药用价值的鼠尾草物种中评估了核基因组中 2 个潜在 DNA 条形码区域的物种区分能力。使用距离、系统发育和基于 BLAST 的方法测试了编码颗粒结合淀粉合酶 1 的低拷贝核基因 WAXY 的核内转录间隔区 2 和外显子 9-14 区域的物种区分能力。开发了一种具有 2 种不同退火温度的新型 2 步 PCR 方法，以实现基因组 DNA 的最大扩增。