DNA barcode of matK combined with ITS effectively distinguishes the medicinal plant Stephania brachyandra Diels collected in Laocai, Vietnam

In Vietnam, some species in the genus Stephania are being overexploited and recorded in the Red Data Book of Vietnam. In this article, we present the identification results of Stephania spp. collected in Lào Cai province using morphological characteristics and the DNA barcode method to contribute to the conservation and exploitation of genetic resources and pharmaceuticals of this species in Vietnam. The analysis of the data shows that all morphology characteristics and comparative anatomy of the petioles, stems, and leaves are typical of Stephania brachyandra Diels species. The matK gene and ITS region isolated from Stephania_ Laocai have base lengths of 879 bp and 423 bp, respectively. The (Bbasic Llocal Aalignment Ssearch Ttool) analysis of the matK gene and ITS region obtained in this study has the highest similarity, 99.37% and 98.97%, respectively, to S. brachyandra species. The matK sequences were highly conserved and had low variable sites for 747 nucleotides (84.98%) and 132 nucleotides (15.29%), respectively, whereas the short ITS region was less conserved and had variable sites for 78 (18.44%) and 345 (81.56%), respectively. The results of the molecular phylogenetic analysis of the matK gene by the maximum likelihood method for the Stephania_Laocai sample showed that the matK sequence is suggested for better phylogenetic resolution than the ITS region and the combination of the matK gene and ITS region can be used to identify S. brachyandra species. Based on the combination of the characteristics of morphology and nucleotide sequences of the matK gene and ITS region, Stephania spp. collected in Lào Cai province of Vietnam were determined as S. brachyandra Diels.