OBJECTIVETo establish a method for identifying Panax ginseng and P. quinquefolius with PCR-SSCP, on the basis of specific SNP identification sites of their ITS2 bar codes.

METHODITS2 sequences of P. ginseng and P. quinquefolius recorded in GenBank were searched to conduct a comparative analysis and screen out specific SNP identification sites of their ITS2 bar codes. Based on that, the Polymerase Chain Reaction-Single Strand Conformation Polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) method was adopted for analyzing 11 P. ginseng samples and 10 P. quinquefolius samples and verifying sequencing of their PCR products.

RESULTThe P. ginseng and P. quinquefolius samples had the same agarose mages of PCR-SSCP with the standard medicines. There were significant differences between the PCR-SSCP agarose mages of P. ginseng and P. quinquefolius, with identifical identification results between PCR-SSCP and sequencing.

CONCLUSIONCompared with the sequencing method, PCR-SSCP is so rapid and accurate that it can be used for identifying P. ginseng and P. quinquefolius medicines.