Data from: Deep sequencing of plant and animal DNA contained within traditional Chinese medicines reveals legality issues and health safety concerns

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been practiced for thousands of years, but only within the last few decades has its use become more widespread outside of Asia. Concerns continue to be raised about the efficacy, legality and safety of many popular complementary alternative medicines, including TCMs. Ingredients of some TCMs are known to include derivatives of endangered, trade-restricted species of plant and animal and therefore contravene the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) legislation. Chromatographic studies have detected the presence of heavy metals and plant toxins within some TCMs, and there are numerous cases of adverse reactions. It is in the interests of both biodiversity conservation and public safety that techniques are developed to screen medicinals like TCMs. Targeting both the p-loop region of the plastid trnL gene and the mitochondrial 16S ribosomal RNA gene over 50,000 amplicon sequence reads were generated from 15 TCM samples presented in the form of powders, tablets, capsules, bile flakes and herbal teas. Here we show that Second Generation, high-throughput sequencing (HTS) of DNA represents an effective means to genetically audit organic ingredients within complex TCMs. Comparison of DNA sequence data to reference databases, revealed the presence of 68 different plant families, and included genera, such as Ephedra and Asarum, which are potentially toxic. Similarly, four animal families were identified, that include genera that are classified as vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered, including Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus), and Saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica). Bovidae, Cervidae, and Bufonidae DNA were also detected in many of the TCM samples, and were rarely declared on the product packaging. This study demonstrates that deep sequencing via HTS is an efficient and cost-effective way to audit highly processed TCM products and will assist in monitoring their legality and safety especially when plant reference databases become better established.

中医药（Traditional Chinese medicine，TCM）已有数千年的应用历史，但直至近数十年，其在亚洲以外地区的使用才愈发普及。包括中医药在内的多款热门补充替代疗法药物，其有效性、合法性与安全性始终饱受质疑。部分中医药产品的成分已知包含濒危、受贸易限制的动植物衍生物，因此违反《濒危野生动植物种国际贸易公约》（Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species，CITES）相关立法。色谱研究已在部分中医药产品中检出重金属与植物毒素，且已有多起不良反应病例报告。开发针对中医药等药用产品的筛查技术，既有助于生物多样性保护，也能维护公众安全。本研究以质体trnL基因（plastid trnL gene）的p-loop区域及线粒体16S核糖体RNA基因（mitochondrial 16S ribosomal RNA gene）为靶点，从15份分别为散剂、片剂、胶囊剂、胆片状制剂及草本茶剂的中医药样本中，生成了超过50000条扩增子序列读数（amplicon sequence reads）。本研究结果显示，DNA第二代高通量测序（Second Generation high-throughput sequencing，HTS）可作为有效手段，对复杂中医药产品中的有机成分开展基因溯源核查。将DNA序列数据与参考数据库比对后，共检出68个不同的植物科，其中包括麻黄属（Ephedra）与细辛属（Asarum）等具有潜在毒性的属类。同样，本研究还检出4个动物科，其中包含被列为易危、濒危或极危物种的属类，如亚洲黑熊（Ursus thibetanus）与赛加羚羊（Saiga tatarica）。牛科（Bovidae）、鹿科（Cervidae）与蟾蜍科（Bufonidae）的DNA也在多款中医药样本中被检出，但这些成分极少在产品包装上标注。本研究证实，通过高通量测序（HTS）开展深度测序，是审核高加工度中医药产品的高效且经济的手段，且有助于监管其合法性与安全性，尤其是在植物参考数据库进一步完善后。