Chemical and genetic diversity of Astragalus mongholicus grown in different eco-climatic regions

PLoS One. 2017 Sep 25;12(9):e0184791. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0184791. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Astragalus mongholicus Bunge (Fabaceae) is an important plant source of the herbal drug known as Radix Astragali, which is used worldwide as a medicinal ingredient and a component of food supplement. Russian Federation, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and China are the main natural distribution areas of A. mongholicus in the world. However, the quality of medicinal plant varies among different locations. As for A. mongholicus, limited literature focused on its biodiversity mechanism. Here, we combined the chemometric analysis of chemical components with genetic variation, as well as climatic and edaphic traits, to reveal the biodiversity mechanism of A. mongholicus. Results showed that the detected chemical, genetic and climatic traits comprehensively contributed to the quality diversity of A. mongholicus. The eight main chemical components, as well as the inorganic elements of P, B and Na were all significant chemical factors. The precipitation and sunshine duration were the main distinguishing climatic factors. The inorganic elements As, Mn, P, Se and Pb were the distinguishing edaphic factors. The systematic method was firstly established for this medicinal plant in order to illustrate the formation of diversity in terms of quality, and provide scientific evidence for geographic indications and climatic adaptation in production and in the clinical application of herbal medicinal plants.

MeSH terms

  • Astragalus Plant / chemistry
  • Astragalus Plant / genetics
  • Astragalus Plant / metabolism*
  • China
  • Climate
  • DNA, Plant / genetics
  • Ecology
  • Genetic Variation* / genetics
  • Glucosides / analysis
  • Isoflavones / analysis
  • Kaempferols / analysis
  • Plants, Medicinal / genetics
  • Plants, Medicinal / metabolism
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Quercetin / analysis
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA

Substances

  • DNA, Plant
  • Glucosides
  • Isoflavones
  • Kaempferols
  • calycosin-7-O-beta-D-glucoside
  • 7,3'-dihydroxy-4'-methoxyisoflavone
  • formononetin
  • kaempferol
  • Quercetin

Grants and funding

Funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 81274013 and 81473315) and CAMS Innovation Fund for Medical Sciences (CIFMS, No. 2016-12M-3-015) is gratefully acknowledged (website: www.nsfc.gov.cn). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Traditional Medicinals provided support in the form of salaries for author JAB, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific role of this author is articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.