Chromatographic fractionation, antioxidant and antibacterial activities of Urginea maritima methanolic extract

The present work concerns a phytochemical study of Urginea maritima L. from Algeria, and an evaluation of antioxidant activity of the methanolic extract [UMME] and its chromatographic fractions. UMME was fractionated using open glass chromatography on silica gel and antioxidant effects were evaluated using DPPH and beta-carotene/linoleate assays. The phytochemical screening revealed that the bulb of plant contains flavonoids, glycosides, tannins, reducing compounds, anthraquinones combined, anthocyanins, mucilage, triterpenes and steroids. DPPH method showed that the UMME has a scavenger effect on radical DPPH with an IC[50]=57.83 +/- 1.59 micro g/ml. The fractions isolated from U. maritime [L.] presented an IC[50] ranging between 499.23 and 39.68 micro g/ml. In beta-carotene/linoleate test, UMME and fractions give an I% =69.56 +/- 0.08% and between 31.29 +/- 0.49% and 90.79 +/- 0.29%, respectively. UMME showed a high inhibitory effect on the xanthine oxidase [IC[50]=0.67 +/- 0.01 mg/ml] and on the cytochrome c reduction [IC[50]=0.68 mg/ml]. Wide range of phytochemical constituents in Urginea maritima were detected in methanolic extract which exhibited antioxidant and antibacterial activity. This plant could serve as pilot for the development of novel agents for pathological disorders

Diversity of Drimia indica (Roxb.) Jessop and its relationship to Drimia nagarjunae using phenotypic traits and molecular markers.

In the present study, we explored the diversity of different accessions of Drimia indica and its relation to D. nagarjunae using phenotypic traits and molecular markers. Twenty populations of D. indica, from different parts of India, were compared with D. nagarjunae, an endangered medicinal plant collected from Andhra Pradesh, India. Two species showed appreciable phenotypic diversity in number of leaves, leaf indices, bulb circumference, bulb length and length of roots. The principal component analysis (PCA) performed on above 5 quantitative characters to determine relationship among populations, has distinguished D. nagarjunae from D. indica phenotypically. Genetic diversity was analysed using RAPD and ISSR primers which produced reproducible bands in 8 RAPD and 3 ISSR primers. A total of 89 amplicons were observed, of which 69 (77.53 %) were polymorphic. Cluster diagram and phylogenetic linkage showed that D. nagarjunae formed a separate cluster, showing no similarity with any of the populations of D. indica. The molecular marker data correlated with PCA of phenotypic traits. Current investigations have demonstrated that the statistical approach for phenotypic characters and molecular markers analysis can be applied to study diversity in Drimia species.