Comparative evaluation of different DNA extraction methods from E. Longifolia herbal medicinal product

Abstract

The aphrodisiac property of Eurycoma longifolia has led to an increase in the demand for its Herbal Medicinal Products (HMPs). However, the efficiency of such HMPs depends on the usage of their genuine raw materials. The conventional methods cannot identify species in processed form. The authentication of HMPs can be achieved effectively using DNA barcoding as the method species-specific. However, the use of this method solely relied on the extraction of high-quality DNA from the HMPs. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a satisfactory method for extracting high-quality DNA from the HMPs. Here, four DNA extraction methods were compared to evaluate the best protocol in yield, purity, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification, sequencing, and species identification. The spectrophotometer analysis showed that the Nucleospin Plant II extraction kit has the best purity as this can be severely affected by the presence of various contaminants in the HMPs. Our findings reveal that DNA purity was more important as a predictor for PCR amplification than yield. Therefore, the present study results demonstrate that the Nucleospin Plant II extraction kit is the best because it produces the purest, amplifiable, and sequenceable DNA for identification and authentication of E. Longifolia HMPs.