This is a 2025 peer-reviewed article in PLOS ONE by Changhong Cao and six coauthors, reporting DNA barcoding analysis of twenty-five commercial myrrh samples using the psbA-trnH genetic region, independently confirmed through its DOI and PubMed Central record. Its strength is direct genetic evidence rather than assumption, the analysis resolved the samples into three distinct Commiphora species and found that only about eight percent actually matched the species specified by the relevant pharmacopoeia, with one sample identified as an unrelated adulterant plant entirely. Its limit is that it establishes the botanical and commercial reality of the modern myrrh trade specifically, not the identity of myrrh as referenced in ancient religious texts, so a claim about biblical or classical myrrh needs a source addressing that separate historical question.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
A peer reviewed DNA barcoding study of commercial myrrh samples, finding that only a small fraction matched the species named in the pharmacopoeia and establishing that the modern traded commodity is not one species. NotesDNA barcoding of twenty five commercial myrrh samples resolved three Commiphora species, Commiphora gileadensis, Commiphora myrrha and Commiphora edulis, and only 8 per cent of samples matched the species named in the pharmacopoeia. Establishes that even the modern traded commodity is not one species.
Citation
AuthorChanghong Cao, Wenting Zhong, Feng Gao, Ying Zhang, Zhiguo Ma, Hui Cao and Menghua Wu
PublisherPLOS ONE, volume 20, number 4, article e0320731
Publication Year2025
URLhttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0320731
Source Typepeer-reviewed article
Claims Backed By This Source (39 claims)
This source backs 39 claims across the atlas. As facts: 27 well-attested, 2 open question. As cited relationships: 1 holds, 5 connected. Plus 4 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Open Questions, 21 claims: 14 well-attested, 5 connected, 2 general references.
- Sources, 8 claims: 8 well-attested.
- Studies, 5 claims: 3 well-attested, 1 open question, 1 general references.
- Plants, 3 claims: 1 open question, 1 holds, 1 general references.
- Articles, 2 claims: 2 well-attested.
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