Correlation analyses between molecular perspective and phytochemical variations in Coptis chinensis Franch

• The intraspecific relationships of molecular phylogeny between different habits in Coptis chinensis were analyzed.
• Hierarchical clustering were applied to analyze the content of C. chinensis alkaloids in different habits.
• Chemical and biologic tools were jointly applied to evaluate the C. chinensis drug quality in different habits.

Coptis chinensis Franch. (Weilian in Chinese) is an important medicinal plant used in traditional Chinese medicines. The identification of habitats associated with good quality plant material is a challenge. In this study, we determined 59 samples from 12 different habits. Other than the samples from Zhenping, the content of six selected alkaloids in C. chinensis did not differ significantly among the habits. Furthermore, the results of the genetic analysis showed that the genetic diversity and the genetic distance among the samples were low, suggesting that the C. chinensis samples from different habits had the same genetic characteristics. These results would suggest that the quality of the drugs are not influenced by the habitats the plant is growing in.