Authentication of Taxillus chinensis using DNA barcoding technique

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the five candidate DNA barcodes of rbcL, matK, psbA-trnH, ITS and ITS2 in order to distinguish Taxillus chinensis from adulterants. Of the five barcodes, the amplification and sequencing efficiencies of rbcL and trnH-psbA were 100%. Meanwhile, the efficiency of matK, ITS and ITS2 regions was very low due to failure in PCR amplification or sequencing. The psbA-trnH exhibited high inter-specific divergence and distinguished T. chinensis from other parasitic loranthus. The rbcL gene demonstrated lower inter-specific divergence and identification efficiency. In conclusion, psbA-trnH is a suitable DNA barcode in authenticating T. chinensis and its related parasitic loranthus.