Differentiation of Dendrobium species used as "Huangcao Shihu" by rDNA ITS sequence analysis

The genus Dendrobium Sw. is composed of 74 species and two varieties in China, and 32 species carry the name "Huangcao Shihu" on the herbal medicine market, making the identification of the origin of "Huangcao Shihu" difficult for consumers. Here, the ITS regions were sequenced and evaluated to differentiate the 18 Dendrobium species used as "Huangcao Shihu". Diversity in DNA sequences among various species was found with the inter-specific sequence divergence ranging from 3.2% to 37.9% in ITS1 and 5.0% to 26.6% in ITS2. Moreover, the variations within species were very low, ranging in sequence divergence from 0 to 3.0% in ITS1 and 0 to 4.0% in ITS2. Therefore, these species could be easily distinguished at the DNA level. Furthermore, based on the divergent ITS regions, five pairs of species-specific primers were designed and used for the rapid PCR identification of five Dendrobium species listed in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia.