Phytochemical evaluation and molecular characterization of some important medicinal plants

ObjectivePhytochemical evaluation and molecular characterization of plants is an important task in medicinal botany and drug discovery. In the current study, Ocimum species, Pimenta officinalis and Piper betel were considered as medicinal plants by evaluation of phytochemical composition like phenol content, Flavonoid content, antioxidant content and other activities like antibacterial, antifungal, lethal dosage (LD 50) of the plant extracts. Among the selected plants P. officinalis shown higher medicinal properties and is selected for molecular characterization.MethodsAntimicrobial activity by agar well diffusion method and also estimated Total phenols, flavonoids content, Total Antioxidants, Cytotoxic assay on Artemia salina for determining lethal dosage (LD50), matK gene was sequenced by using ABI Prism 3700. Leaf extract of P. officinalis plant is further selected for GC-chromatographic analysis to know its chemical composition. DNA was isolated by different protocols, optimized, and is used for the PCR amplification of trnL-gene which is a universal marker among plants in molecular taxonomy. The trnL-gene is amplified by using PCR. The product obtained from PCR is purified and the sample is used for sequencing so that it can be used for comparative studies.ResultsP. offcinalis has shown good antimicrobial activity against all organisms. A. flavus is resistant against O. sanctum (B). Phenolic content (26.5 μg/g) is found to be rich in P. betel where as flavonoid and Antioxidant content are significant in P. betel. The chromatogram revealed the presence of high concentration of Eugenol in the leaf sample. On submitting to BLASTN, the genetic sequence has found similarity with Pimenta dioica plastid partial matK gene and Ugni molinae trnK gene. MatK did not shown any interactions with trnK or trnL genes. MatK has shown interactions with various genes like ycf5, pclpp, psbh, atph, NDVI, rpoc1, ndha, ndhd, psai.ConclusionsWe can conclude for this investigation of chemical composition and antioxidative properties of the essential leaf oil of P. officinalis that contain eugenol, methyl eugenol and β-caryophyllene were found as main components with this capacity. P. offcinalis can be used as alternative source to synthetic drugs against Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, A. niger, A. flavus T. versicolor infections. In silico analysis did not predicted any interactions between matK and trnL or trnK genes.