Jiang Chao, Cao Liang, Yuan Yuan, Chen Min, Jin Yan, Huang Luqi
Beijing Key Laboratory of Protection and Application of Chinese Medicinal Resources, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China ; State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Dao-di Herbs, National Resource Center for Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China.
Institute of Agricultural and Biological Resources Utilization, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China.
Biomed Res Int. 2014;2014:809037. doi: 10.1155/2014/809037. Epub 2014 Oct 30.
Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is one of the most important and expensive medicinal spice products in the world. Because of its high market value and premium price, saffron is often adulterated through the incorporation of other materials, such as Carthamus tinctorius L. and Calendula officinalis L. flowers, Hemerocallis L. petals, Daucus carota L. fleshy root, Curcuma longa L. rhizomes, Zea may L., and Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. stigmas. To develop a straightforward, nonsequencing method for rapid, sensitive, and discriminating detection of these adulterants in traded saffron, we report here the application of a barcoding melting curve analysis method (Bar-MCA) that uses the universal chloroplast plant DNA barcoding region trnH-psbA to identify adulterants. When amplified at DNA concentrations and annealing temperatures optimized for the curve analysis, peaks were formed at specific locations for saffron (81.92°C) and the adulterants: D. carota (81.60°C), C. tinctorius (80.10°C), C. officinalis (79.92°C), Dendranthema morifolium (Ramat.) Tzvel. (79.62°C), N. nucifera (80.58°C), Hemerocallis fulva (L.) L. (84.78°C), and Z. mays (84.33°C). The constructed melting curves for saffron and its adulterants have significantly different peak locations or shapes. In conclusion, Bar-MCA could be a faster and more cost-effective method to authenticate saffron and detect its adulterants.
藏红花（番红花）是世界上最重要且最昂贵的药用香料产品之一。由于其高市场价值和高昂价格，藏红花常被掺入其他物质进行掺假，如红花、金盏花、萱草花瓣、胡萝卜肉质根、姜黄根茎、玉米和莲的柱头。为开发一种直接、非测序的方法，用于快速、灵敏且有区分性地检测交易藏红花中的这些掺假物，我们在此报告一种条形码熔解曲线分析方法（Bar-MCA）的应用，该方法使用通用叶绿体植物DNA条形码区域trnH-psbA来识别掺假物。当在针对曲线分析优化的DNA浓度和退火温度下进行扩增时，藏红花（81.92°C）及其掺假物会在特定位置形成峰：胡萝卜（81.60°C）、红花（80.10°C）、金盏花（79.92°C）、菊花（79.62°C）、莲（80.58°C）、萱草（84.78°C）和玉米（84.33°C）。构建的藏红花及其掺假物的熔解曲线具有明显不同的峰位置或形状。总之，Bar-MCA可能是一种更快且更具成本效益的方法，用于鉴定藏红花并检测其掺假物。
