著者

室 友紀 今村 真二 中村 博明 長谷川 正紀 湯浅 勲

出版者

日本法科学技術学会

雑誌

日本法科学技術学会誌 (ISSN:18801323)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.15, no.2, pp.143-149, 2010

被引用文献数

1

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&nbsp;&nbsp;In many countries, including Japan, cultivation of <i>Cannabis sativa</i> (<i>C. sativa</i>) for drug use has been illegal and prohibited. Recently, seeds for cultivation purposes are easily available from internet shops, and then we have often been requested to identify <i>C. sativa</i>. The identification has conventionally been performed by morphological and chemical tests. But, it can be difficult to identify tiny and fragmenting samples as <i>C. sativa</i> even if these tests are performed.<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;In this study, we aimed to establish a method based on DNA analysis. As an initial step, we attempted a method reported by Linacre et al, however, cross-amplification between <i>C. sativa</i> and <i>Humulus lupulus</i> (<i>H. lupulus</i>) with <i>C. sativa</i> specific primers (G and H) was observed. To avoid this cross-amplification, we designed a new primer specific for <i>C</i>. sativa (cp-Can) on <i>trnL</i> intron of chloroplast DNA. DNA samples from nine plants including <i>C. sativa</i> and <i>H. lupulus</i> were amplified using the green plant universal primer pair and the cp-Can. After subsequent agarose gel electrophoresis, <i>C. sativa</i> DNA showed two bands, whereas the other plant DNA showed one band, indicating the clear distinction from the other plants tested. In addition, a BLAST search with the cp-Can sequences showed no cross-activity with other plants. The present method is very simple, rapid, sensitive, and useful for the identification of <i>C. sativa</i>.<br>