POPULATION STRUCTURE OF KAEMPFERIA GALANGA L. FROM EASTERN INDIA

Objective: India has been a producer of a large number of aromatic medicinal plants which serves as a valuable genetic resource for future quality improvement to meet the ever-growing demand of human essential products. Thus, an urgent need arises for germplasm conservation of these high yielding varieties to help the pharmaceutical and other industries. For this understanding, the population structure is essential in order to explore their genetic identification by fingerprinting and molecular characterization. Methods: In the present study DNA was isolated using modified Cetyl Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide (CTAB) method and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was performed according to standardized method along with its data analysis. This study was undertaken to characterize the highly medicinal Kaempferia galanga collected from 4 different populations of Odisha using the molecular markers as Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA and Inter-Simple Sequence Repeats for the first time. Results: A dendrogram constructed through Sequential Agglomerative Hierarchical and Nested (SAHN) clustering and Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic mean (UPGMA) analysis showed an average similarity of 0.993 ranging between 0.967 to 1.000. Jaccard’s similarity coefficient of combined markers segregated the genotypes into two main clusters, 1 with six samples and the others at 0.98 similarity coefficient. Conclusion: Hence, the molecular analysis could be further used for the identification of important novel gene present in Kaempferia galanga which can be utilized for future crop improvement as well as pharmacological activities

Assessment of genetic diversity of Curcuma aromatica from eastern India using ISSR and RAPD markers

Application of Inter Simple Sequence Repeats and Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA markers in Curcuma aromatica collected from 4 different populations of Odisha. A dendrogram was constructed through sequential agglomerative hierarchial and nested (SAHN) clustering and unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) analysis using Jaccard’s similarity coefficient of combined markers using this particular species. Two major clusters were found i.e., cluster-I (Koraput-1, Koraput-2, Koraput-3, G.Udaigiri-1, G.Udaigiri-2, G.Udaigiri-3 and Phulabani-1, Phulabani-2, Phulabani-3) and cluster-II (Raikia-1, Raikia-2 and Raikia-3). The clustering pattern also revealed moreover the extent of genetic similarity between germplasms collected from those populations. This technique would be further utilized for identification and tagging of important novel gene present in different taxa or improvement work in family Zingiberaceae. This study would be of immense significance for conservation and characterization of important medicinal plant species

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY OF ESSENTIAL OIL AND EXTRACT OF ALPINIA MALACCENSIS ROSCOE (ZINGIBERACEAE)

Objective: The present study was conducted to examine the chemical composition, in vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of both the essential oil and methanolic extract of Alpinia malaccensis leaves. Methods: The essential oils obtained from the leaves of Alpinia malaccensis were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry to determine chemical compositions. Antioxidant activity of both oil and extract were determined using DPPH and ABTS assay whereas the antimicrobial effects were tested by inhibition zone diameter and minimum inhibitory concentration.  Results: The GC–MS analysis of the essential oil identified 10 components comprising 92.7% of the oil. The major constituents of the oil are α-phellandrene (43.9%), β-cymene (31.7%), β-pinene (4.6%). Total phenolic content of the leaf extract of A. malaccensis was found to be 76.25 mg GAE/g of the extract. Essential oil and methanolic extract displayed significant antioxidant activities with IC50 values of 18.26μg/ml and 22.5μg/ml in DPPH and 20μg/ml and 26.23μg/ml in ABTS respectively. Oil and extract showed very good activity against all four microbial strains. Conclusion: The result showed that the essential oil has better activity than extract. Thus it could be served as potential source of natural antioxidant, natural antimicrobial as well as natural preservative ingredient in cosmetics, food and pharmaceutical industry

Chemical composition of Hedychium coronarium Koen. flowers from eastern India

In this study essential oil from both conventional and micropropagated flowers of Hedychium coronarium were extracted through hydro-distillation process and its chemical composition were analyzed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. A total of 11 compounds were identified from conventionally grown plants where as 7 compounds were identified in micropropagated plants. The major compound identified in conventional and micropropagated plantlets is eucalyptol (18.04 % and 26.47 %) respectively. The medicinally beneficial compounds present in the oil confirm the plant to be curative for various diseases in human and valuable for commercial purposes

Pharmacological activity and biochemical interaction of zingerone: a flavour additive in spice food

Zingerone (4-(4-Hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-2-butanone) is one of the non-volatile and nontoxic compounds of ginger. It is also called vanillylacetone with a crystalline solid form which is sparingly soluble in water and more soluble in ether. The contribution of this compound in ginger is about 9.25%. The chemical structure is made of a phenolic ring with methoxy group attached to benzene ring. Gingerol can be heated to form zingerone by retroaldol reaction. It has been reported that zingerone has multiple pharmacological activities. It is effective against diarrhoea causing enterotoxigenic bacteria that leads to infant death. It is also used against intestinal gastric, oxidative stress, weak immunity, obesity. During its activity against cancer, it governs the expression of different cell cycle protein and TGF-?1 expression. Antioxidant response is controlled by inducing the activity of ROS neutralising enzymes like superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione reductase. It can also reduce various inflammations by restricting the activity of interleukins. This review summarizes the multiple pharmacology activities of zingerone against various important diseases like cancers, tumors, inflammations, oxidative conditions, microbial infections, biofilm formations, thrombosis and other diseases. In addition, the molecular regulation of these pharmacological responses by zingerone is also critically discussed

Quality evaluation of Hedychium coronarium essential oils by GC-MS fingerprinting associated with chemometrics

Hedychium coronarium J. Koenig (Zingiberaceae) is a valued plant species due to its exquisitely fragrant essential oil. However, there is a significant diversity in essential oil yield and quality associated with the geographical origin of the plant. The aim of the present study is to establish a quality control chemical fingerprint and differentiate Hedychium coronarium essential oils of different geographical origin using chemometrics. A total of 50 samples collected from five different geographical regions (Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Assam) of India were analyzed by GC-MS. Forty four volatile constituents belonging to different classes were identified, among which β-pinene, eucalyptol, linalool and coronarin E were the predominant constituents. Thirteen shared chromatographic peaks were selected and the relative standard deviations of retention time and peak areas of these compounds were less than 0.2 and 3%, respectively. The correlation coefficients and overlapping peak ratio of each chromatogram to the simulative mean chromatogram was greater than 0.81 and 81.2%, respectively, thus indicating that the developed chemical fingerprint was very consistent. Chemometric techniques like hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), principal component analysis (PCA) and stepwise linear discriminant analysis (SLDA) were applied to provide accurate classification and discrimination of H. coronarium essential oils of different origin. The HCA and PCA score plot clustered H. coronarium essential oils into 5 groups in accordance with their origin. By SLDA, 11 constituents with the best discriminating capacity were selected, and 4 discriminant functions (DFs) achieved a success rate of 100% in both classification and prediction, thereby revealing accurate discrimination of H. coronarium oils from different regions. These results suggest that GC-MS fingerprinting coupled with chemometrics could be an effective and reliable tool for identification and discrimination of H. coronarium of different geographical origin and for quality control

EVALUATION OF DRUG YIELDING POTENTIAL OF MICROPROPAGATED CURCUMA AROMATICA

Objective: GC MS analysis and antioxidant activity of micropropagated and conventionally grown Curcuma aromatica essential oil and extract was done for their large scale commercial cultivation. Molecular marker based studies were performed to know their genetic fidelity as well as to trace any somaclonal variation existing between the regenerants.Methods: In vitro regeneration and multiplication were done using Murashige and Skoog media with various combinations of growth regulators. Component identification was done by GC MS analysis. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers were used for molecular profiling. Antioxidant activity was performed using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH).Results: Molecular marker-based analysis revealed uniform banding patterns similar to those of the mother plants. Gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy (GC MS) analysis showed the presence of 10 major components accounted for 95.5% of the total compounds. The major components in micropropagated and field grown mother plants were found to be alpha phellandrene (41% and 38%), 4-carene (23% and 25%) and terpeneol etc. Antioxidant activity of leaf oil (IC50-29.3 µg/ml) and methanolic extract (IC50-101.25 µg/ml) of in vitro grown plants showed increased free-radical scavenging activity. Conclusion: Absence of any type of remarkable polymorphism in the essential oil quality and antioxidant activity the present protocol could be used commercially for large scale propagation of C. aromatica. The present report bears immense potential for the future improvement, conservation and domestication of C. aromatica to explore its high prized secondary metabolites.Â