Ecotypes of Cistanche deserticola Based on Chemical Component and Molecular Traits

Diversity of ecotypes in Chinese medicine materials is an important part of research on genuine medicinal materials. Cistanche deserticola named desert Panax is the most distinctive endangered medicinal plant and keystone species distributed in arid areas. Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia are the main producing areas and traditional authentic region of C. deserticola . Preliminary research shows that Alxa Plateau in Inner Mongolia and north of Xinjiang are the main ecological adaptable and concentrated productive regions (two ecotypes), and we further investigated the chemical component, molecules of geographical indications and ecological factors of C. deserticola in this two main producing areas. Phenylethanoid glycosides and iridoids of C. deserticola were analysed using UPLC-QTOF/MS; C. deserticola from different areas were identified and analysed based on psb A- trn H sequences; the data of temperature, moisture, illumination and other ecological factors of the two main producing areas were obtained through "China Meteorological Data Sharing Service System"; ecotypes of C. deserticola were divided using analytical methods of biostatistics and quantitative classification. The result of UPLC-QTOF/MS shows that C. deserticola of two main areas had striking differences: 16 components were identified, and 2'-acetylacteosid was recommended to differentiate C. deserticola from two producing areas as index component; aligned analysis of psb A- trn H sequences revealed that C. deserticola had differences in locus and structure of sequence. C. deserticola originating from Xinjiang had G base in number 191 locus, while C. deserticola originated from Inner Mongolia had A base in number 191 locus. The analysis of NJ tree indicated that two areas of C. deserticola clustered into two branches obviously. The data of ecological factors also show that C. deserticola presented two geographical distribution patterns. This study provided a new idea to investigate ecotypes of Chinese medicine in different ecoregions and the biological nature of product variation, and laid an important foundation for further studies of the theory of genuine medicinal materials.