TY - JOUR T1 - Authentication of medicinal plant botanical identity by amplified fragmented length polymorphism dominant DNA marker: inferences from the Plectranthus genus JF - Planta Med Y1 - 2006 DO - 10.1055/s-2006-946673 A1 - Helna Passinho-Soares A1 - Durvalina Felix A1 - Maria Auxiliadora Kaplan A1 - Marcia Margis-Pinheiro A1 - Rogério Margis SP - 929–31 KW - DNA: Plant KW - Genetic Markers KW - Phylogeny KW - Plants: Medicinal KW - Plectranthus KW - Polymerase Chain Reaction KW - Polymorphism: Genetic KW - Species Specificity AB - In Brazil, Plectranthus species are known as "boldo" and have been used in popular medicine for analgesic and dyspeptic purposes. Plectranthus need to be well identified in order to be used as commercially genuine medicinal plants. Here we describe AFLP DNA patterns able to distinguish among different Pectranthus species. The genetic variability of P. grandis Cramer, P. barbatus Andr. and P. ornatus Codd was analyzed with two sets of AFLP primers allowing detection of 241 loci. A total of 22 monomorphic loci were identified in P. barbatus, 15 in P. grandis and 30 in P. ornatus. Among these, 5 loci were informative and species-specific to P. barbatus, 3 to P. grandis and 2 loci were unique to P. ornatus. The AFLP pattern analyzed by different clustering methods assembled individuals according to their species. So far, AFLP represents a genuine and strong method to certify medicinal plant materials. VL - 72 ER -