This paper reports a new method to identify the Chinese
drug turtle shells using PCR product direct sequencing method. DNA was extracted from tissues of the Chinese threekeeled pond turtle Chinemys reevesii and 20 other
species of turtles occurring in China and Southeast Asian countries. One hundred and ten base pairs of mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene
fragment were amplified from the extract using PCR technique and obtained sequences. These
sequences were used to construct 12S rRNA gene fragment
sequence database for the 21 turtle species. Comparison of these sequences indicated that the sequence from the Chinese threekeeled pond turtle is different from that of all the other 20 turtle species. The sequence divergence is 37～157%. DNA was extracted from 01～05 g of shell from 19 turtle shells provided by the Jiangsu Institute for Drug Control and 12S rRNA gene fragment was amplified and sequenced. Comparison of the sequences from the 19 turtle shells and 12S rRNA gene fragment sequence database indicated that only 3 samples are shells of the Chinese threekeeled pond turtle specified in the Phamacopoeia of the People′s Republic of China and the others are substitutes. The technique used in the present paper was found to be effective and reliable for the identification of turtle shells.
More abstracts about the MOLECULAR IDENTIFICATION OF THE CHINESE DRUG TURTLE SHELLS