Development of SCoT-Based SCAR marker for rapid authentication of Taxus Media.

Taxus media is an important species in the family Taxaceae with highmedicinal and commercial value. Overexploitation and illegal trade have led T.media to a severe threat of extinction. In addition, T. media and other Taxus specieshave similar morphological traits and are easily misidentified, particularly duringthe seedling stage. The purpose of this study is to develop a species-specific markerfor T. media. Through a screening of 36 start codon targeted (SCoT) polymorphismprimers, among 15 individuals of 4 Taxus species (T. media, T. chinensis, T. cus pidate and T. fuana), a clear species-specific DNA fragment (amplified by primerSCoT3) for T. media was identified.