Analysis of genetic and chemical variability of five species based on DNA barcoding and HPLC fingerprints.

The rhizomes of species have a long medicinal history in Asia. In China, species mainly be utilized to make pharmaceutical products, including and . In this study, twenty-four samples were selected to study the genetic and chemical variability among five species. The and intron gene fragment were used to identify the five species, the differences in chemical composition were computed using the Euclidean distance based on the data of HPLC characteristic peak areas and the content of six key components, and agronomic characteristics were analyzed including morphological and volatile oil characteristics. The and intron gene fragment could distinguish the five species clearly. The genetic distance between species ranged from 0.0085 to 0.0767 based on the data of gene sequences with 32 variation sites, and the genetic distance between species ranged from 0.0003 to 0.0194 based on the data of intron gene sequences with 39 variation sites. Five species showed otherness chemical composition characteristics, with the Euclidean distance ranging from 3.373 to 6.998. The showed the biggest variation compared with other species, with the Euclidean distance above 6.239. Among the samples of the original plants of Ezhu, the volatile oil yield of W1 was the highest, reached to 105.75 mL per single plant. Among all the samples, J6 showed the highest yield of volatile oil, reached to 149.42 mL per single plant. The results showed that chemical composition similarity of the medicinal plants was the primary proof for the selection of the original plants of the medicinal materials. The genetic distance and chemical variability were important references for discovering new medicinal plant resources.