Abstract

Effective identification of traditional medicine is essential for the development of medical industry. Identification in different parts (rhizome head, lateral root, main root and skin) of Panax quinquefolius L. root (American ginseng) is limited by the lack of efficient differentiation methods. In this study, proteomic technologies were used to establish an advanced protocol suitable for the identification of different parts of P. quinquefolius L. root. Proteins were extracted from four different parts of a 4-year oldquinquefolius L. root using optimized sonication and trichloroacetic acid [TCA]/acetone precipitation methods and separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE). Then 2-DE patterns were matched and analyzed with Image Master 2D Platinum Version 6.0 software. Eight groups of different abundant proteins and 6 specific proteins were inspected (totaling 38 protein spots in all). Further, these proteins were extensively identified by MALDI-TOF-TOF analysis. According to the biological functions, a total of 24 successfully identified proteins could be divided into 5 groups, which were stress response related proteins, energy metabolism related proteins, storage related proteins, hypothesis proteins and unknown proteins. From these results it was concluded that proteomic analysis method was an effective way to identify the different parts of quinquefolius L. root. These findings may contribute to further understanding of the physiological mechanisms of quinquefolius L.

Key words: Panax quinquefolius L. root, different parts, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE).

Abbreviation

 2-DE, Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis; BSA, bovine serum albumin; CBB, Coomassie brilliant blue; CHAPS, 3-[(3-cholamidopropyl) dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonate; DTT, d-thiothreitol; IEF, isoelectric focusing;IPG, immobilized pH gradient; Mw, molecular weight; pI, isoelectric point; PMSF,phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride; SDS, sodium dodecyl sulfate; SDS-PAGE, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; TCA, trichloroacetic aci