DNA bar coding of Rattans and Phyllanthus: For developing fingerprints, resolving taxonomy and securing IPRs. Funded by Department of Biotechnology (DBT) New Delhi.

Rattans and Phyllanthus that are endemic and taxonomically intriguing have been collected from Western Ghats, Eastern Himalayas and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. DNA barcoding for 17 Phyllanthus species has been completed. This region (psbA-trnH) was also used to resolve the identity of Phyllanthus species used in raw drug trade. Six different species namely P.amarus, P.debilis, P.maderaspatensis, P.kozhikodianus, P.urinaria and P.fraternus were found in the trade samples collected from South India. A digital database of both Phyllanthus species and rattans has also been developed. A total of 53 rattan species have been collected out of which 16 species are from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 15 species from Eastern Himalayas and 21species from Western Ghats. Thirty possible gene/gene regions were evaluated such as psbA-trnH, matK, 5sr RNA, ndhF 7-2133, ndhF 15-8, trnE-trnF, trnC-trnD, RPB2 and rps18-clpP for DNA barcoding of rattans. Combinatorial analysis was also done using psbA-trnH, matK and RPB2. But none of the regions could resolve the rattans at the species level.