Molecular Identification of Korean Mountain Ginseng Using an Amplification Refractory Mutation System (ARMS)

Abstract

: Expensive herbs such as ginseng are always a possible target for fraudulent labeling. New mountain ginseng strains have occasionally been found deep within mountain areas and commercially traded at exorbitant prices. However, until now, no scientific basis has existed to distinguish such ginseng from commonly cultivated ginseng species other than by virtue of being found within deep mountain areas. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of the internal transcribed spacer has been shown to be an appropriate method for the identification of the most popular species (Panax ginseng) in the Panax ginseng genus. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) has been identified between three newly found mountain ginseng (KGD4, KGD5, and KW1) and already established Panax species. Specific PCR primers were designed from this SNP site within the sequence data and used to detect the mountain ginseng strains via multiplex PCR. The established multiplex-PCR method for the simultaneous detection of newly found mountain ginseng strains, Korean ginseng, and foreign ginseng in a single reaction was determined to be effective. This study is the first report of scientific discrimination of "mountain ginsengs" and describes an effective method of identification for fraud prevention and for uncovering the possible presence of other, cheaper ginseng species on the market.

Molecular Identification of Reynoutria japonica Houtt. and R. sachalinensis (F. Schmidt) Nakai Using SNP Sites

“…Moldenke (何首烏; Ha-su-o in Korean and he shou wu in Chinese). Similarly, the specific molecular marker for S. chinensis, P. ginseng, Tomato, Zea mays were developed (Batley et al, 2002;Deynze et al, 2007;In et al, 2010;Kim et al, 2012).…”

Authentication of Hippophae rhamnoides ssp. sinensis and ssp. mongolica Based on Single Nucleotide Polymorphism at Ribosomal DNA and Their Vitamin Content Analysis

“…PCR-SNP based marker system has been used to distinguish cultivars and species [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. Our goal in distinguishing H. rhamnoides especially the ssp.…”

Development of a single-nucleotide-polymorphism marker for specific authentication of Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer) new cultivar “G-1”

“…Although the medicinal components and efficacy of P. ginseng have been widely explored [8], [9], [10], [11], there is little information available on the genome of P. ginseng , making the molecular identification of different cultivars difficult. However, with the development of robust molecular markers, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR)–restriction fragment length polymorphism [12], single-strand conformation polymorphism [13], randomly amplified polymorphic DNA [14], sequence-characterized amplified region [15], intersimple sequence repeat-derived sequence-characterized amplified region [16], amplification-refractory mutation system (ARMS) [17], amplified fragment length polymorphism, and directed amplification of minisatellite region DNA [18] for the Korean ginseng cultivars, this difficulty is prevailed.…”