植物叶绿体ycf15基因应用于药用植物鉴定的前景展望

Prospect: Identification of medicinal plant based on chloroplast gene ycf15

叶绿体普遍存在于绿色植物中,ycf15基因位于叶绿体基因组IR区,长度一般为250~550 bp,高度保守,目前对该基因研究较少。就有限的研究成果来看,其独特的序列结构及其显现的丰富多样的遗传信息不仅具有一定的物种鉴定意义,而且在植物系统进化分析研究中有较大的潜力。同时,ycf15基因具有保守性高、片段长度较小、无需克隆测序等特点,在进一步构建中药材鉴定DNA条形码中具有独特优势。从ycf15基因的结构特点、物种鉴定与系统学意义几方面进行梳理并展望其在药用植物鉴定中的应用前景。

The circular double-stranded cp DNA sequence consists of two inverted repeat（IR） regions, a large single-copy region（LSC） and a small single-copy region（SSC）. The function of some genes within the genome is clear. However, it is unknown for such chloroplast genes as hypothetical chloroplast reading frames（ycfs） and so on. As one of ycf s, ycf15 gene is located within IR regions with length of 250-550 bp, conserved among plants and also, its function is often unclear. The gene has attracted an intense attention during the past decade. This review presents an overview of ycf15 gene including its basic type, structural features, and the application to phylogenetic analyses. As a potential DNA marker for species identification, future implications of the gene are also introduced.