Study on Hybrid Characteristics of Medicinally Used Cultivated Codonopsis Species Using Ribosomal Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) Sequencing

Codonopsis taxa, as a traditional Chinese medicinal and edible plant, has found expanding domestic and foreign applications in recent decades. However, the poor management in germplasm resources market has inevitably caused an unnecessary hybrid of the provenances. In order to clarify the hybrid characteristics of germplasm resources in the main production area, the Codonopsis cultivars collected from the provinces Gansu, Shannxi, Shanxi, and Hubei of China were researched, using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence technology. The confirmation of additive nucleotides based on the ITS sequencing of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) mixture was optimized and used to study the hybrid of Codonopsis cultivars. The results showed that when the ratio of PCR mixture increased up to 15 percent, the presence of a double peak in the sequencing electrophoresis map could be confirmed, suggesting the existence of additive nucleotides. According to the method above, 46 samples of Codonopsis cultivars collected during 2016 and 2017 were studied and compared with the samples collected from the year 2009 to 2010. All of the samples collected during 2016 and 2017 were hybridized and no genetic pure lines were found. In addition, the sites of variable base reduced greatly, concentrating at positions 122 and/or 226. These phenomena suggested that the genetic diversity of Codonopsis cultivars declined and the germplasm resources gradually converged. More attention should be paid to the reasonable exploitation and genetic breeding of Codonopsis taxa.