Molecular and Chemo Taxonomy of Plants

The risk of assigning wrong nomenclature to vouchers has reduced confidence in the integrity of the Expert Recognition Method (ERM) in species identification and authentication. DNA barcoding and phytochemical profiling the emerging tools for resolving these limitations imposed on the scientific community by the ERM. This study was undertaken to identify six morphologically similar Mimosoideae taxa using DNA barcodes and to develop a rapid field authentication process using basic phytochemical test methods. Genomic DNA was extracted from fresh leaf samples of the plant, amplified and sequenced at matK region using universal primer set. The resultant sequence was identified using BLASTn and validated with genetic tree and barcode gap analysis methods. The phytochemical fingerprints of the identified specimen was studied using basic phytochemical test methods, Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and High-Performancermance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).