The 6th session of the Academic Salon of the School of Life Sciences was successfully held online on October 26. Dr. Liu Yingkui from the Department of Biotechnology delivered an online thematic report entitled “Study on the Identification of Medicinal Leeches and Their Traditional Chinese Medicine Products Using DNA Barcoding” for all faculty members of the school.
Adulteration and variety confusion frequently occur in medicinal leeches and other traditional Chinese medicinal materials, while traditional physical and chemical identification methods struggle to distinguish such medicinal leeches effectively. As an accurate, rapid and reliable novel identification technique, DNA barcoding is well suited for the authentication of medicinal leeches and their related traditional Chinese medicine products. Starting from the morphological identification of medicinal leeches, the study solved the problem of species identification between genuine medicinal leeches and their adulterants via DNA barcoding method. Furthermore, it provided a feasible technical approach for the identification of medicinal leeches in clinically applied traditional Chinese medicinal materials that feature complex sources, insignificant morphological characteristics or crushed forms.
After the report, Dr. Liu Yingkui conducted in-depth discussions with participating teachers on multiple research topics, including the pharmacological effects of leeches in lowering blood pressure and thrombolysis, active medicinal components, species classification, morphological classification, and genetic evolution of leeches.
