ABSTRACT
Despite toxic effects of some essential oils, their use is not under control. With a view to increasing trend of utilisation of herbal products, some biological aspects of Thymus daenensis are repoted here for the first time. Antimicrobial properties using disk diffusion and dilution tests, nitric oxide radical scavenging by Marcocci et al method and cytotoxic properties employing dimethylthiazolyl diphenyltetrazolium bromide reduction test were carried out with Thymus daenensis and commercial Thyme essential oils and their main chemical compound, thymol. The microbial sensitivity to the oils were in Candida albicans>E. coli>S. aureus>P. aeruginosa order. The minimum inhibitory and microbicidal concentrations were in the range of 0.04-10mg/ml. Nitric oxide radical scavenging was dose dependent with an IC50 of 5, 75, 863 micro g, and total phenolics of 644.07 +/- 6.79, 16.94 +/- 2.55, 10.33 +/- 2.31 micro g Gallic acid equivalent per mg sample and total flavonoid content of 73.51 +/- 1.34, 0.56 +/- 0.02, 0.21 +/- 0.09 mg Catechin equivalent per gram T. daenensis oil, commercial thyme oil and thymol respectively. The concentrations from T. daenensis oil, commercial thyme oil and thymol required to exert 50% fatal effect [IC50] on healthy human normal lymphocytes and Hela cells were 1455, 12.10, 2867 and 4.95, 3.61, 1730 micro g respectively. T. daenensis with its good antimicrobial property can prevent formation of toxic reactive oxygen species and as a good antioxidant, it can directly scavenge NO and O2-. With a view to cancerous cells killing properties of the oils at their lowest concentrations without fatal effect on normal healthy cells, feasibility of their application in combating cancerous cells may be promising
ABSTRACT
The genetic diversity of 20 Iranian populations of Bunium persicum has been evaluated with random amplified polymorphic DNA [RAPD] and amplified fragment length polymorphism [AFLP] markers. Fresh leaves of seedlings from each population were used for genomic DNA extraction. Analysis of banding patterns of 15 RAPD primers and 17 AFLP primer combinations, revealed 192 [86%] and 228 [75%] polymorphic bands, respectively. The range of similarity coefficients within populations were 0.4-0.82 for RAPD and 0.39-0.96 for AFLP markers. No association was observed between similarity matrices of both the DNA markers. Genetic distance patterns between B. persicum populations, expressed by the RAPD and AFLP cluster analyses were relatively different. The resulting dendrograms based on AFLP and RAPD +AFLP markers were more similar when compared to that derived from RAPD analysis. The AFLP generated dendrogram was supported with the highest bootstrap values. The measures of relative genetic distances among populations did not completely correlate with geographical distances of places of their origin. Several populations of black cummin were represented as independent groups in the clusters, showing a high level of genetic diversity and unique genetic background. Knowledge of wide genetic diversity observed in the B. persicum populations provides important information for management of germplasm resources with regard to future domestication and breeding programs
Subject(s)
Genetic Variation , Plants, Medicinal , Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique , Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism AnalysisABSTRACT
Volatile components of three parts of Pimpinella tragium Vill. [Umbelliferae family] from Iran were investigated qualitatively and quantitatively for the first time. Essential oils were isolated by hydro-distillation from stems plus leaves, inflorescence and seeds of P. tragium individually. The plant materials were collected from Polour [Northeast of Tehran Province]. The yields of the stems plus leaves, inflorescence and seed oils were 0.08%, 0.37% and 1.33%w/w, respectively. Eighteen constituents in the stems plus leaves oil, twenty-six constituents in the inflorescence oil and twenty-three constituents in the seed oil were identified. Major constituents of the stems plus leaves oil were: germacrene D [34.7%], germacrene B [18.3%], bornyl acetate [15.8%], beta-caryophyllene [5.6%] and beta-pinene [4.5%]. Major constituents of the inflorescence oil were: beta-pinene [23.8%], germacrene B [14.1%], hexadecanol [10.3%], beta-caryophyllene [7.3%], germacrene D [6.2%] and bornyl acetate [4.1%]. Main components of the seed oil were: beta-pinene [25.3%], germacrene B [17.8%], sabinene [13.6%], beta-caryophyllene [4.8%] and hexadecanol [4.7%]