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Identification of Nigella sativa Seed and Its Adulterants Using DNA Barcode Marker

Received: 15 September 2016     Accepted: 28 September 2016     Published: 19 October 2016
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Abstract

Adulteration, misidentification, and substitution are the biggest challenges in maintaining safety and therapeutic efficacy of medicinal herbs. Nigella sativa seed, which is well known medicinal herb susceptible to adulteration or substitution due to its great therapeutic value. Adulteration and substitution by morphologically similar seeds are the primary concern in commercially available Nigella sativa seed. In this study, we have used DNA barcode marker to find out adulteration, misidentification, and substitution of Nigella sativa seed sold in various markets. We collected 10 samples, which were labelled as Black seed/Nigella sativa seed from open markets in India (1 No.), Pakistan (1 No.), Saudi Arabia(1 No.), Egypt (2 No.), Turkey (1 No.), Syria (1 No.), Tunisia(2 No.) and Oman (1 No.). All samples collected from different geographies were studied morphologically. Although few samples were quickly identified as Nigella sativa seeds, few were tough to detect and differentiate accurately. This is where DNA barcode marker proved to be useful. Plant DNA were obtained from seed coat cells of samples, was amplified by PCR with forward and reverse rbcl and matK primers as recommended by CBOL (The Consortium for the Barcode of Life). PCR amplification of plastid genome with matK was not very successful, while PCR amplification with rbcl primers was quite successful. We used rbcl sequences for alignment and further analysis. PCR products obtained were subjected to electrophoresis on 1.5% agarose plate. PCR products were sent to Macrogen (Seoul, South Korea) for DNA sequencing. DNA reads obtained with rbcl sequences were aligned and analyzed for nucleotide composition, conserved sites, variable sites, singleton sites and parsimony-informative sites, genetic distance and phylogenetic tree using MEGA 7. The phylogenetic tree was constructed using UPGMA method. NCBI Blast along with phylogenic tree and nucleotide characteristic were used to identify Nigella sativa seeds from different geographies and discriminate two adulterants as Allium cepa seed and Clitoria guianensis seed. Both of these adulterants are different regarding their active medicinal contents and therapeutic utility from Nigella sativa seed. This study proved the utility of DNA marker, especially rbcl loci in accurately identifying medicinal herb and its adulterants.

Published in American Journal of Life Sciences (Volume 4, Issue 5)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajls.20160405.14
Page(s) 118-128
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2016. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Nigella sativa, Kalongi, DNA Barcoding, Molecular Markers, rbcl, Matk, Adulteration, Misidentification

References
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  • APA Style

    Sudhir S. P., Alagappan Kumarappan, Lalit K. Vyas, Divya Shrivastava, Padma Deshmukh, et al. (2016). Identification of Nigella sativa Seed and Its Adulterants Using DNA Barcode Marker. American Journal of Life Sciences, 4(5), 118-128. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajls.20160405.14

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    ACS Style

    Sudhir S. P.; Alagappan Kumarappan; Lalit K. Vyas; Divya Shrivastava; Padma Deshmukh, et al. Identification of Nigella sativa Seed and Its Adulterants Using DNA Barcode Marker. Am. J. Life Sci. 2016, 4(5), 118-128. doi: 10.11648/j.ajls.20160405.14

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    AMA Style

    Sudhir S. P., Alagappan Kumarappan, Lalit K. Vyas, Divya Shrivastava, Padma Deshmukh, et al. Identification of Nigella sativa Seed and Its Adulterants Using DNA Barcode Marker. Am J Life Sci. 2016;4(5):118-128. doi: 10.11648/j.ajls.20160405.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajls.20160405.14,
      author = {Sudhir S. P. and Alagappan Kumarappan and Lalit K. Vyas and Divya Shrivastava and Padma Deshmukh and H. N. Verma},
      title = {Identification of Nigella sativa Seed and Its Adulterants Using DNA Barcode Marker},
      journal = {American Journal of Life Sciences},
      volume = {4},
      number = {5},
      pages = {118-128},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajls.20160405.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajls.20160405.14},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajls.20160405.14},
      abstract = {Adulteration, misidentification, and substitution are the biggest challenges in maintaining safety and therapeutic efficacy of medicinal herbs. Nigella sativa seed, which is well known medicinal herb susceptible to adulteration or substitution due to its great therapeutic value. Adulteration and substitution by morphologically similar seeds are the primary concern in commercially available Nigella sativa seed. In this study, we have used DNA barcode marker to find out adulteration, misidentification, and substitution of Nigella sativa seed sold in various markets. We collected 10 samples, which were labelled as Black seed/Nigella sativa seed from open markets in India (1 No.), Pakistan (1 No.), Saudi Arabia(1 No.), Egypt (2 No.), Turkey (1 No.), Syria (1 No.), Tunisia(2 No.) and Oman (1 No.). All samples collected from different geographies were studied morphologically. Although few samples were quickly identified as Nigella sativa seeds, few were tough to detect and differentiate accurately. This is where DNA barcode marker proved to be useful. Plant DNA were obtained from seed coat cells of samples, was amplified by PCR with forward and reverse rbcl and matK primers as recommended by CBOL (The Consortium for the Barcode of Life). PCR amplification of plastid genome with matK was not very successful, while PCR amplification with rbcl primers was quite successful. We used rbcl sequences for alignment and further analysis. PCR products obtained were subjected to electrophoresis on 1.5% agarose plate. PCR products were sent to Macrogen (Seoul, South Korea) for DNA sequencing. DNA reads obtained with rbcl sequences were aligned and analyzed for nucleotide composition, conserved sites, variable sites, singleton sites and parsimony-informative sites, genetic distance and phylogenetic tree using MEGA 7. The phylogenetic tree was constructed using UPGMA method. NCBI Blast along with phylogenic tree and nucleotide characteristic were used to identify Nigella sativa seeds from different geographies and discriminate two adulterants as Allium cepa seed and Clitoria guianensis seed. Both of these adulterants are different regarding their active medicinal contents and therapeutic utility from Nigella sativa seed. This study proved the utility of DNA marker, especially rbcl loci in accurately identifying medicinal herb and its adulterants.},
     year = {2016}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Identification of Nigella sativa Seed and Its Adulterants Using DNA Barcode Marker
    AU  - Sudhir S. P.
    AU  - Alagappan Kumarappan
    AU  - Lalit K. Vyas
    AU  - Divya Shrivastava
    AU  - Padma Deshmukh
    AU  - H. N. Verma
    Y1  - 2016/10/19
    PY  - 2016
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajls.20160405.14
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajls.20160405.14
    T2  - American Journal of Life Sciences
    JF  - American Journal of Life Sciences
    JO  - American Journal of Life Sciences
    SP  - 118
    EP  - 128
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-5737
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajls.20160405.14
    AB  - Adulteration, misidentification, and substitution are the biggest challenges in maintaining safety and therapeutic efficacy of medicinal herbs. Nigella sativa seed, which is well known medicinal herb susceptible to adulteration or substitution due to its great therapeutic value. Adulteration and substitution by morphologically similar seeds are the primary concern in commercially available Nigella sativa seed. In this study, we have used DNA barcode marker to find out adulteration, misidentification, and substitution of Nigella sativa seed sold in various markets. We collected 10 samples, which were labelled as Black seed/Nigella sativa seed from open markets in India (1 No.), Pakistan (1 No.), Saudi Arabia(1 No.), Egypt (2 No.), Turkey (1 No.), Syria (1 No.), Tunisia(2 No.) and Oman (1 No.). All samples collected from different geographies were studied morphologically. Although few samples were quickly identified as Nigella sativa seeds, few were tough to detect and differentiate accurately. This is where DNA barcode marker proved to be useful. Plant DNA were obtained from seed coat cells of samples, was amplified by PCR with forward and reverse rbcl and matK primers as recommended by CBOL (The Consortium for the Barcode of Life). PCR amplification of plastid genome with matK was not very successful, while PCR amplification with rbcl primers was quite successful. We used rbcl sequences for alignment and further analysis. PCR products obtained were subjected to electrophoresis on 1.5% agarose plate. PCR products were sent to Macrogen (Seoul, South Korea) for DNA sequencing. DNA reads obtained with rbcl sequences were aligned and analyzed for nucleotide composition, conserved sites, variable sites, singleton sites and parsimony-informative sites, genetic distance and phylogenetic tree using MEGA 7. The phylogenetic tree was constructed using UPGMA method. NCBI Blast along with phylogenic tree and nucleotide characteristic were used to identify Nigella sativa seeds from different geographies and discriminate two adulterants as Allium cepa seed and Clitoria guianensis seed. Both of these adulterants are different regarding their active medicinal contents and therapeutic utility from Nigella sativa seed. This study proved the utility of DNA marker, especially rbcl loci in accurately identifying medicinal herb and its adulterants.
    VL  - 4
    IS  - 5
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Life Science, Jaipur National University, Jaipur, India

  • Department of Microbiology, Marine Biology, and Virology, University of Modern Sciences, Dubai, UAE

  • Vidyabahrti Mahavidyalaya, Department of Cosmetic Technology, Amravati, India

  • Department of Life Science, Jaipur National University, Jaipur, India

  • Department of Microbiology, Smt. C.H.M. College of Arts, Commerce and Science, Ulhasnagar, Mumbai, India

  • Department of Life Science, Jaipur National University, Jaipur, India

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