ASSESSMENT OF GENETIC FIDELITY, ANTIOXIDANT ENZYME ACTIVITY AND PROLINE CONTENT OF MICROPROPAGATED AND FIELD GROWN PLANTS OF LEPTADENIA RETICULATA (WIGHT & ARN.)- AN ENDANGERED MEDICINAL PLANT
K. M. SUDIPTA *
Department of Biotechnology, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Nagarjunanagar, Guntur, India
M. KUMARA SWAMY
Padmashree Institute of Management and Sciences, Kommagatta, Bangalore, India
S. BALASUBRAMANYA
Padmashree Institute of Management and Sciences, Kommagatta, Bangalore, India
M. ANURADHA
Department of Biotechnology, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Nagarjunanagar, Guntur, India and Padmashree Institute of Management and Sciences, Kommagatta, Bangalore, India and Rishi Foundation, #234, 10th C main, 1st Block, Jayanagar, Bangalore, India
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Leptadenia reticulata of family Asclepiadeaceae is an endangered medicinal plant which has been used in traditional medicine from ancient times. In the present study the genetic fidelity, antioxidant enzyme activity and proline content of in vitro regenerated and field grown plants were analyzed. Out of 40 randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) primers tested, only 6 primers produced species specific reproducible and unique bands. A similarity matrix based on Jaccard’s coefficient ranged from 0.88 to 1.0 indicates the higher percentage of similarity and genetic homogeneity between tissue cultured and mother plants. Antioxidant enzyme activity like Superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and peroxidase were investigated to evaluate the protective mechanism of the plant against oxidative stress. SOD and peroxidase activity were found to be higher in acclimatized in vitro raised plantlets whereas highest catalase activity was observed in ex vivo grown plants. Maximum proline content (0.24µg/g) was found in acclimatized in vitro raised plantlets than in naturally grown plants (0.14µg/g). The higher degree of genetic similarity of in vitro raised plantlets encourages the use of current micropropagation protocol for L. reticulata. Result from the study of antioxidant enzyme activity and proline content may serve as biomarker for assessing the physiological parameters in L. reticulata.
Keywords: Leptadenia reticulata, micropropagation, clonal fidelity, RAPD, antioxidant enzymes, Proline content