Development of a specific and sensitive diagnostic PCR for rapid molecular authentication of the medicinal plant Portulaca oleracea

Adulteration by Bacopa monnieri (BM) in Portulaca oleracea (PO) plants frequently occurs; it decreases the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and leads to fraud in the herbal marketplace. In this study, a diagnostic PCR assay was established for the rapid authentication of PO and BM in the herbal market. The sequence divergences in internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) between PO and its adulterant species were used to design diagnostic PCR primers. The specific designed primer sets were evaluated and show that the diagnostic PCR assay can be used to verify the authenticity of PO and BM. The detection limits of the primer set for PO and BM identification were 10 pg and 1 pg, respectively. The reactivity of diagnostic PCR was 0.1% PO genomic DNA and 0.01% BM genomic DNA in the test sample during DNA amplification. In addition, multiplex PCR (mPCR) for PO and BM identification was also established. The samples were more susceptible to the effect of steaming in authentication by singleplex PCR and mPCR than boiling and drying treatment. Furthermore, commercial samples from the market were used to demonstrate the applicability of the developed diagnostic PCR for PO authentication and diagnose BM adulteration, and the investigation found that approximately 72.2% (13/18) of PO plants in the herbal market were adulterated. In conclusion, the diagnostic PCR assay was successfully developed and its specificity, sensitivity and reactivity for PO and BM authentication were proven. These developed PCR-based molecular methods can be applied as an identification tool for PO authenticity and can be practically applied for inspection of BM adulteration in the herbal market in the future.