Assessment of genetic diversity of Lycoris longituba (Amaryllidaceae) detected by RAPDs

Genetic diversity and chemical profiling of different populations of Convolvulus pluricaulis (convolvulaceae): an important herb of ayurvedic medicine

Convolvulus pluricaulis Choisy, commonly known as "Shankhpushpi", is an ayurvedic medicinal plant recommended as a brain tonic to promote intellect and memory, eliminate nervous disorders and to treat hypertension. Because of increasing demand of the drug, this plant species has been over-exploited. As a consequence, many unrelated plants are being sold by the crude drug dealers in India in the name of "Shankhpushpi". Information on its existing gene pool is currently lacking. We developed molecular (Random Amplification of Polymorphic DNA) and chemical (high performance liquid chromatography) markers that could distinguish the genuine plant species from its adulterants. Molecular characterization confirmed higher genetic variation at inter-zonal level as compared to intra-zonal populations. A total of 37 reproducible amplicons were generated of which 22 were polymorphic. The number of amplicons was in the range of 6-11 and genetic distance for the studied primers ranged from 0.07 to 0.34. Fifty nine per cent polymorphism was obtained across different geographical locations. Dendrogram studied through unweighted pair group method of arithmetic analysis differentiated all the genotypes into two major clusters, Cluster I had the single population of Rajasthan and Cluster II was represented by genotypes of Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The Kaempferol content ranged from 0.07 to 0.49 mg/g and Delhi population was the highest accumulator.

Natural variation in petal color in Lycoris longituba revealed by anthocyanin components

Lycoris longituba is one of the species belonging to the Amaryllidaceae family. Despite its limited distribution, endemic to central eastern China, this species displays an exceptionally wide diversity of flower colors from purple, red, orange, to yellow, in nature. We study the natural variation of floral color in L. longituba by testing the components of water-soluble vacuolar pigments--anthocyanins--in its petals using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detection and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Four anthocyanins were identified, cyanidin-3-sophoroside (Cy3So), cyanidin-3-xylosylglucoside (Cy3XyGlc), cyanidin-3-sambubioside (Cy3Sa), and pelargonidin-3-xylosylglucoside (Pg3XyGlc), which occur at various amounts in L. longituba petals of different colors. A multivariate analysis was used to explore the relationship between pigments and flower color. Anthocyanins have been thought to play a major role in acting as a UV screen that protects the plant's DNA from sunlight damage and attracting insects for the purpose of pollination. Thus, knowledge about the content and type of anthocyanins determining the petal coloration of Lycoris longituba will help to study the adaptive evolution of flowers and provide useful information for the ornamental breeding of this species.