Decoding herbal materials of representative TCM preparations with the multi-barcoding approach

With the rapid development of high-throughput sequencing (HTS) technology, the techniques for the assessment of biological ingredients in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) preparations have also advanced. By using HTS together with the multi-barcoding approach, all biological ingredients could be identified from TCM preparations in theory, as long as their DNA is present. The biological ingredients of a handful of classical TCM preparations were analyzed successfully based on this approach in previous studies. However, the universality, sensitivity and reliability of this approach used on TCM preparations remain unclear. Here, four representative TCM preparations, namely Bazhen Yimu Wan, Da Huoluo Wan, Niuhuang Jiangya Wan and You Gui Wan, were selected for concrete assessment of this approach. We have successfully detected from 77.8% to 100% prescribed herbal materials based on both ITS2 and trnL biomarkers. The results based on ITS2 have also shown a higher level of reliability than those of trnL at species level, and the integration of both biomarkers could provide higher sensitivity and reliability. In the omics big-data era, this study has undoubtedly made one step forward for the multi-barcoding approach for prescribed herbal materials analysis of TCM preparation, towards better digitization and modernization of drug quality control.