[Identification of Schisandra chinensis with white fruits based on ITS2 sequences]

To analyse a special kind of Schisandra chinensis with the white fruit using ITS2 barcode at molecular levels.

ITS2 regions were sequenced bidirectionally. Sequence assembly and consensus sequence generation were performed using the CodonCode Aligner, MEGA 5.0 software was used to align the sequences. The ITS2 secondary structure was predicted using ITS2 web server, BLAST 1 method was used to identify the S. chinensis with the white fruit.

The length of the ITS2 sequence was 231 bp. And the sample was identified as S. chinensis using the method of BLAST 1. Their mean interspecific genetic distance (K2P distance) among the populations of the S. chinensis with the white fruit and S. chinensis was far lower than the mean interspecific genetic distance between the S. chinensis and S. sphenanthera.

By using ITS2 the S. chinensis with the white fruit was identified as S. chinensis, and the ITS2 barcode could be used to identify S. chinensis and S. sphenanthera.