A transcriptome-based analysis reveals functional differences among Dendrobium officinale Kimura&Migo species from different growing regions and with different quality levels

Dendrobium officinale Kimura&Migo(D.officinale)is a common,high medicinal value food and herbal medicine used in the treatment of yin-deficient diseases.Adulterants obtained with similar inexpensive species of Dendrobium plants are available in the market.However,Dendrobium species with different quality levels or from different regions as well as analogous species have a similar appearance,which makes the discrimination of Dendrobium species difficult.Reliable objective methods for authenticating D.officinale are lacking.Here,samples of Dendrobium officinale Kimura&Migo(D.officinale)from two regions with three quality levels and sample of the analogous species Dendrobium compactum Rolfe ex W.Hackett(D.compactum)were subjected to genome-wide biological response fingerprinting(BioReF)in RAW264.7 cells by RNA sequencing.The biological pathways affected by these samples could distinguish D.officinale from D.compactum.The high-quality D.officinale samples from Yunnan exhibited the strongest inhibition of lipopolysaccharide(LPS)induced inflammatory genes and pathways,followed by samples from Myanmar.The medium-and low-quality samples from Yunnan exhibited weaker effects,and D.compactum exerted mild effects.The RNA sequencing results were strengthened by the results from analyses of the expression of the inflammation-related genes Il6,Ccl5,and Cox2 and the production of nitric oxide.Thus,transcriptomic profiling can be used to evaluate the quality of D.officinale and distinguish its origin.