ABSTRACT
Background and Objective: Genus Salacia L. [Celastraceae] is a woody climbing medicinal plant consisting of about 200 species with many endangered species located throughout the world's tropical areas. Various parts of the plant as food, functional food additive and tea have been extensively used to treat a variety of ailments like diabetes and obesity as well as inflammatory and skin diseases. The present work reviews the phytochemical properties, pharmacological activities, biotechnological strategy for conservation and safety evaluation of this valuable genus
Results and Conclusion: More efforts are needed to isolate new phytoconstituents from this important medicinal plant. The mechanism of anti-diabetic action has not been done at molecular and cellular levels, thus the fundamental biological understanding is required for future applications. Though the safety of plant species has been well documented and has been confirmed by many toxicological studies, further toxicity research and clinical trials are recommended. In order to sustain harvest and conservation, agronomic practices for cultivation have to be developed. Establishment of more efficient protocols for in vitro propagation is necessary too. Approaches like genetic manipulation, hairy root culture, media standardization, and use of inducers/precursors for elevation of secondary metabolite levels could also be attractive
ABSTRACT
Background: Memecylon species are commonly used in Indian ethnomedical practices. The accurate identification is vital to enhance the drug's efficacy and biosafety. In the present study, PCR based techniques like RAPD, ISSR and DNA barcoding regions, such as 5s, psbA-trnH, rpoC1, ndh and atpF-atpH, were used to authenticate and analyze the diversity of five Memecylon species collected from Western Ghats of India. Results: Phylogenetic analysis clearly distinguished Memecylon malabaricum from Memecylon wightii and Memecylon umbellatum from Memecylon edule and clades formed are in accordance with morphological keys. In the RAPD and ISSR analyses, 27 accessions representing five Memecylon species were distinctly separated into three different clades. M. malabaricum and M. wightii grouped together and M. umbellatum, M. edule and Memecylon talbotianum grouped in the same clade with high Jaccard dissimilarity coefficient and bootstrap support between each node, indicating that these grouped species are phylogenetically similar. Conclusion: Data from the present study reveals that chloroplast psbA-trnH region could be used as a potential candidate region for identifying Memecylon species, and ISSR marker system could be used for estimating genetic diversity since it has high percent polymorphism compared to RAPD marker.