Potential use of DNA barcoding for the identification of tobacco seized from waterpipes

DNA barcoding was adopted in our laboratory for the identification of tobacco (Nicotiana spp.) in moassel samples seized from “hookah bars”. As recommended by the CBOL Plant Working Group, we used a 2-locus combination of rbcL and matK as the plant barcode. As previously reported rbcL routinely produced high quality bi-directional reads but had a lower discriminating power than matK. It was much more difficult obtaining high quality bi-directional reads with matK possibly because of poor sample quality. DNA barcoding successfully identified tobacco in over 60 commercial tobacco moassel products. On the other hand, negative results (no amplification) or the identification of non-tobacco species were obtained from herbal moassel products. Our study clearly demonstrates the practical utility of DNA barcoding beyond taxonomy.