Genetic Variability and Phytochemical Studies of Idigofera
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GENETIC VARIABILITY AND PHYTOCHEMICAL STUDIES OF INDIGOFERA ASPALATHOIDES VAHL. EX.DC& I.TINCTORIA L., TWO ENDEMIC MEDICINAL PLANTS OF SOUTH TAMILNADU Project Report Submitted to Taminadu State Council for Higher Education(TANSCHE) By Dr. S. K. Sundar Assistant Professor, Research Department of Microbiology, M.R. Government Arts College, Mannargudi- 614 001. INTRODUCTION India is one of the mega biodiversity country in the world hosting 75,000 species of fauna and 45,000 species of flora. Of the 1.5 million species of identified organisms 0.2 million (13%) are known from India (Gadgil, 1996).Amongst the flora, the medicinal plants form an important component, as it is a very valuable heritage for humanity in the sense that its administration in various forms, relieves man from the burden of diseases to the improvement of the quality of life. Humans and other animals are almost totally depend on plants directly or indirectly, as a source of energy and the medicinal plants are potential renewable natural sources. World wide, tens of thousands of species of higher plants and several hundred lower plants are currently used by human beings for a wide diversity of purposes such as food, fuel, fibre, oil herbs spices industrial crops and as forage and fodder for domesticated animals (Hey wood et al., 1992).The wide spread use of herbal remedies of health care preparations, as those described in ancient texts such as the Vedas and the Bible, are obtained from commonly used traditional herbs and medicinal plants, India has a long historical use of large number of medicinal and aromatic plants. It is reported that almost every plant family in the world is represented in India‟s rich flora (Harsha et al., 2002). A number of native plants have been used in various preparations of the traditional system of medicines such as Ayurveda and Siddha. India being an „Emporium of medicinal plants‟ the Ayurvedic and Siddha systems flourished well in the country The drugs used in Ayurvedic and Siddha system are essentially of plant orgin. These systems incorporate nearly 700 plant drugs in several medicinal preparations for the management of human health care (Purohit et al., 2003). The medicinal properties of plant species made an outstanding contribution in the origin and evolution of many traditional herbal therapies. These traditional knowledge systems have started to disappear with passage of time, due to scarcity of written documents and relatively low income in the traditions.Recently, considerable attention has been paid to utilize ecofriendly and biofriendly plant based products for the prevention and cure of different human diseases. It is documented that 80% of the World Population has faith in traditional medicine, particularly plant drugs for their primary healthy care (Singh, 2002) Herbal medicine is a major component in all traditional medicine systems and common element in Ayurvedic, Chinese medicine and Native American Medicine (Lietava, 1992) It has been estimated that 25% of the prescribed medicines today are substance derived from plants (Rawat and Uniyal, 2003). The practice of traditional medicine is wide spread in China, India, Japan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand. In China about 40% of the total medicinal consumption is attributed to traditionaltribalmedicines (Bensky et al., 2004)In Thailand, herbal medicines make use of legumes encountered in the Caesalpiniaceae, Fabaceae and Mimosaceae. In the mid – 90‟s it is estimated that receipts of more than US$ 2.5 billion have resulted from the sales of herbal medicines. And in Japan herbal medicinal prepartions are more in demand than main stream pharmaceutical products (Irwin et al., 2002). In India, it is reported that traditional healers use 2500 plant species and 100 species of plants serve as regular source of medicine (Maruthi et al., 2000).Gorman (1992) drew attention to the power of Chinese folk medicinal portions in treating maladies from eczema and malaria to respiratory disorders. Examples Artemisia annua used as antimalarial drug. Bupleurumchinese used as a popular remedy for hepatitis. More recently, the biochemistry of Cucumber is being studied in USA to decipher the identity of compound Q an extract used in China and credited with remedial and relief properties in AIDS sufferers. In the last 40 years, many potent drugs have been derived from flowering plants, approximately half (125 000) of the world‟s flowering plant species are found in the tropical forests. Tropical rain forests continue to support a vast reservoir of potential drug species. The potential for finding more compounds from these plants are enormous and as on date only about 1% of tropical species have been studied for their pharmaceutical potential. To date about 50 drugs have come from tropical plants. The probable undiscovered pharmaceuticals for modern medicine have often been cited as one of the most important reasons for protecting tropical forests. Therefore the high annual extinction rate is a matter for concern (Cragg and Newman, 2005). Many of these indigenous medicinal plants are used as spices and food plants. They are also sometimes added to foods meant for pregnant and nursing mothers for medicinal purposes (Okwu, 1999, 2001). They have also provided an invaluable resource that has been used to find new drug molecules (Gurib-Fakim, 2006). Medicinal plants are an integral component of ethno veterinary medicine and are widely used as a primary source of prevention and control of livestock diseases. In Mexico intestinal disorders of cows are treated with herbal extract of Polakowskiatacacco. Dietary supplement such as vitamin A in poultry feeds in Uganda are supplied through enrichments of Amaranthus species (Anjara et. al., 1996). Around 70% of the India‟s medicinal plants are found in tropical area mostly in the various forest types spread across the Western and Eastern Ghats. Although less than 30% of medicinal plants are found in the temperate and alpine areas, India officially recognizes over 3000 plants for their medicinal values (Rajashekaran, 2002). Many plants synthesize substances that are useful to the maintenance of health in humans and other animals. These include aromatic substances most of which are phenols or their oxygen-substituted derivatives such as tannins. Many are secondary metabolites of which atleast 12,000 have been isolated. In many cases, these substances, particularly alkaloid serve as plant defense mechanism against micro organisms, insects and herbivores. (Lai, 2004 ;Tapsell, 2006).Plants up regulate and down regulate their biochemical paths in to the local mix of herbivores, pollinators and microorganisms. Plants synthesize a bewildering variety of photochemical but most are derivatives of a few biochemical motifs. Phytonutrients/phytochemicals are said to be incredibly beneficial to human health; however, what separates them from other nutrients is that they are not absolutely necessary for the normal functioning of the body i.e. our bodies will not shut down without them. Rather they are the building blocks from which our bodies use to promote good health e.g. by improving the function of the immune system, reducing inflammation etc. (Ross, 2006). Alkaloids contain a ring with nitrogen and many of these compounds have dramatic effects on the central nervous system. Phenolics contain phenol ring, whereas terpenoids are built up from terpene building blocks. Each terpene consists of two paired isoprenes. The names monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, diterpenes and triterpenes are based on the number of isoprene units (Hayashi et al., 1993).Glycosides consists of a glucose moiety attached to an aglycone. The aglycone is a molecule that is bioactive in its free form but inert until the glycoside bond is broken by water or by enzymes. This mechanism allows the plants to defer the availability of the molecule to an appropriate time (Seigler, 1998). Flavonoids present in plants are responsible for the colour of flowers, fruits and sometimes leaves. Some may contribute to the colour by acting as a co-pigment. Biosynthetically they are derived from a combination of the Shikimic acid and the acetate pathways. Small differences in basic substitution patterns give rise to several sub-groups. In the plant, flavonoids can either occur as aglycones or as O- or C-glycosides (Gurib-Fakim, 2006). Some of the plant moieties used as drug in all forms of medicine and examples are inulin from the roots of dahlias, quinine from the Cinchona, morphine from the Poppy. The active ingredient in Willow bark, once prescribed Hippocrates is Salicin or Salicylic acid. The discovery of Salicylic acid leads to the development of aspirin also known as acetylsalicylic acid. Aspirin was originally a brand name and is still a protected trademark in some countries. This medication was patented by Bayer AG (Hill, 1992). Some animals tend to forage plants rich in secondary metabolite such as tannins and alkaloids, since these phytochemicals often have antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal and antihelminthic properties (Huffman, 2003).Molecular markers generally refer to biochemical constituents, including primary and secondary metabolites and other macromolecules such as nucleic acids. Secondary metabolites as markers have been extensively used in quality control and standardization of botanical drugs. (Liu et al., 1994). Using chemical finger printing plants can be demarcated on the basis of their species, strain and geographical origin. Chromatographic techniques like Thin Layer Chromatography, High Performance Liquid Chromatography can be used to obtain chemical constituents from plants and this technique is called chemoprofiling (Vieira et al., 2001). A recent offshoot of this method is the use of biomarkers. The European Scientific Co- operative on Phytotherapy (ESCOP) has clearly specified the requirement of the standardization of phyto-pharmaceuticals on the basis of biomarkers that are unique to that species (Fico et al., 2003).Not all plants contain a unique chemical compound and even if there is a unique marker, it may not be biologically active. There is a significant overlap of many molecules, especially phenolics and sterols.