Biochemical, genotoxic and microbiological properties of different Viburnum genotypes

Abstract

Less common plant species are of special interest extending list of horticultural plants. Use of Viburnum fruits containing variety of biologically active compounds requires more detailed evaluations from the microbiological and toxicological point of view [1]. Till now taxonomy of Dipsacales remains among the most problematic hot spots in phylogeny of Angiosperm groups [2,3]. The present work was conducted with the purpose to differentiate accessions of Viburnum grown in Kaunas Botanical garden according to system of molecular markers, also biochemical, microbiological and genotoxic characters (Study was sponsored by Research Council of Lithuania, project No SVE04/2011). Eight out of eleven tested primer pairs were used for molecular analyses at simple sequence repeat (SSR / microsatellites) loci. Totally 97 fragments were generated at 8 SSR loci. For each loci number of DNA fragments was varying from 2 to 10, and length of the fragments ranged between 80 and 150 bp (base pairs). The genotoxic potential of lyophilized juices of Viburnum opulus and V. sargentii fruits was evaluated using the Ames Salmonella / microsome mutagenicity test, alkaline single-cell gel electrophoresis (comet) assay and cytokinesis-block micronucleus test in human lymphocytes in vitro. All investigated genotypes were negative results according to the Ames test, indicating that Viburnum juices do not produce reverse mutations in bacterial cells. In human lymphocytes, no increase of micronuclei frequency and primary DNA damage was determined. Hereby, lyophilized juices of V. opulus and V. sargentii fruits are not genotoxic under the conditions of the present study. Agar diffusion method was employed to evaluate antimicrobial properties of the juice. Bioassays showed that the fruit juices prepared from all studied genotypes of Viburnum demonstrated bacteriocidic and bacteriostatic activity against 8 bacteria species. [...]Biologijos katedraBotanikos institutasBotanikos sodasVilniaus universitetasVytauto Didžiojo universiteta