Identification of Traditional Chinese Crude Drug Turtle Shell Using PCR Product Direct Sequencing Me

We extracted DNA from tissues of Chinese softshell turtle Pelodiscus sinensis and Wattlenecked softshell turtle Pelea steindachneri, amplified 110bp mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene fragment from the extract using PCR technique and obtained sequences, and constructed 12S rRNA gene fragment sequence database for 3 species of softshell turtles including the sequences of Lissemys punctata obtained from Genbank The comparisons of these sequences indicate that the sequence from Chinese softshell turtle is different from that of the other 2 softshell turtle species The sequence differences between Pelodisus sinensis and the other two species ranged from 1193% to 1978% DNA was extracted from 01￣05g turtle shell of 4 samples provided by Jiangsu Institute for Drug Control and 12S rRNA gene fragment was amplified and sequenced Comparison of the sequences from the 4 turtle shells to 12S rRNA gene fragment sequence database indicates that only 1 sample shell is derived from the Chinese softshell turtle which was qualified to be goods defined by Pharmacopoeia of the Peoples Republic of China and all the rest are substitutes