Mucilage and protein constituents of certain medicinal plants growing in Egypt and their antiphytoviral activity

ABSTRACT

The crude protein of Lotus glinoides, Forsskalea tenacissima and Suaeda vermiculata were found to be 13.53%, 15.74% and 14.32% respectively. The analysis of the amino acids isolated from L. glinoides using the amino acid analyzer revealed the presence of 15 amino acids, in which alanine [9.11%], glutamic acid [8.13%] and proline [8.94%] represented the major components. The analysis of amino acids isolated from F. tenacissima revealed the presence of 17 amino acids, in which glycine [7.44%], alanine [6.63%] and glutamic acid [6.18%] were found to be the major components, while the analysis of the amino acids isolated from S. vermiculata revealed the presence of 17 amino acids, in which lysine [7.31%], threonine [6.12%] and serine [5.23%] were the main components. The mucilage of the aerial parts of L. glinoides, F. tenacissima and S. vermiculata were separately extracted and purified. The chemical composition of the mucilage of each plant was qualitatively studied by analysing their hydrolysate using paper chromatography [Whatman No. 1], where arabinose, rhamnose, xylose, galactose and galactouronic acid were characterised from L. glinoides, glucouronic acid, galactose, arabinose and rhamnose from F. tenacissima and glucouronic acid, glucose, arabinose and rhamnose in the mucilage of S. vermiculata. The alcohol extracts and proteins isolated from the three plants mentioned above at the concentration of 0.1 mg/ ml showed antiphytoviral activity against tomato mosaic virus [ToMV] and the crude protein isolated from the three plants were more effective in reducing ToMV infcctivity or increasing inhibitory activity in vitro than in vivo. The crude protein of L glinoides had the highest effect on inactivity of ToMV in vitro [97.75% inhibition/24 hr.] as compared to the crude protein isolated from F. tenacissima and S. vermiculata [93.26% and 89.89% inhibition/24 hrs.] respectively