DNA Barcode Technology for Plant Authentication

Incremental interest of pharmaceutical and herbal industries at domestic & international level have been contributing significantly in the economic growth of global medicinal plants sector. The major problem associated with plant based raw botanical drug/ phytomedicines is their correct identification using appropriate technology and detection of adulteration. To cater the industry demands, we developed a reproducible DNA based technology for rapid authentication of plant species.

India being among the 17 mega biodiversity countries of the world is a custodian of more 18,000 angiosperms with approximately 7000 are of medicinal and pharmaceutical important. In India, annual medicinal plant based raw material trade is 1,28,000 tons with a value of Rs. 4200 crores annually and contributes 8% in total global market export. Indian pharmaceutical market is expected to grow up to USD 55 billion by 2020. Current DNA based plant identification system can be utilized to cater to increasing demand of pharmaceutical sector for authentication of raw plant materials and also to facilitate regulation in legal system of supply chain.

The salient feature of this technology is that it utilizes conserved nature of maternally inherited genomic regions/gene sequences for rapid authentication of plants at species level