{"id":34602,"date":"2018-10-31T12:09:14","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T06:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=34602"},"modified":"2018-10-31T12:09:14","modified_gmt":"2018-10-31T06:39:14","slug":"dna-barcodes-reveal-adulteration-in-traditional-medicines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/dna-barcodes-reveal-adulteration-in-traditional-medicines\/","title":{"rendered":"DNA barcodes reveal adulteration in traditional medicines:"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/todays-paper\/dna-barcodes-reveal-adulteration-in-traditional-medicines\/article19864335.ece\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DNA barcodes reveal adulteration in traditional medicines<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Context <\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A genetic study has shown that traditional medicines in the large unorganised market contain spurious plant extracts and heavy metals that pose serious risks to health.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>What does the study show? <\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The studies shows that traditional medicinal markets are replete with unrelated plant materials that substitute for endangered or rare ones, while the final product, in some instances, contains <\/span><b>heavy metals<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, particularly lead. A herbal trade authentication system was needed to address concerns over<\/span><b> widespread adulteration<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>What are heavy metals? <\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Heavy metals are <\/span><b>metallic, naturally occurring compounds<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that have <\/span><b>higher density<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> compared to other metals, at least five times the density of water. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Heavy metals are <\/span><b>toxic <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to humans.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Examples<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Lead, Copper, Mercury, Cadmium, Arsenic, Chromium (Cr), Thallium etc. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Process of tracing the genes and focus on adulteration <\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While attempting to trace the genetic history of Phyllanthus (Leaf flower), scientists were surprised to see claims of the plant being used in abundance in herbal medicines, despite its relative rarity. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Samples and their <\/span><b>DNA analysis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> showed that nearly 25% of samples were not Phyllanthus amarus (used to treat Hepatitis B), but a mixture of other species which did not contain the curative elements of Phyllanthin and hypophyllanthin.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The focus was then on <\/span><b>species adulteration and developed DNA barcodes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; <\/span><b>short genetic sequences<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, much like a supermarket barcode, which becomes an identifying mark &#8211; for the species commonly used in traditional medicine.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, Ashoka bark, which is used to cure many ailments including leucorrhea, uterine disorders, and as an anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial drug \u2014 whose harvesting is highly regulated under forest laws was found to have 90% adulteration by seven other species, including papaya or drumstick bark.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>What are DNA Barcodes?<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">DNA barcoding is a taxonomic method that uses a <\/span><b>short genetic marker in an organism&#8217;s DNA<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to identify it as belonging to a particular species.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It differs from molecular phylogeny in that the main goal is not to determine patterns of relationship but to <\/span><b>identify an unknown sample<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in terms of a preexisting classification.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although barcodes are sometimes used in an effort to identify unknown species or assess whether species should be combined or separated, the utility of DNA barcoding for these purposes is subject to debate.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is a need to reduce the adulteration in traditional medicines and develop barcodes as an identifying mark for the medicines.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DNA barcodes reveal adulteration in traditional medicines: Context A genetic study has shown that traditional medicines in the large unorganised market contain spurious plant extracts and heavy metals that pose serious risks to health. What does the study show? The studies shows that traditional medicinal markets are replete with unrelated plant materials that substitute for&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/dna-barcodes-reveal-adulteration-in-traditional-medicines\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">DNA barcodes reveal adulteration in traditional medicines:<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-test-1","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704880454},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}