Genetic differentiation between Plectranthus grandis cramer and Plectranthus barbatus andr. (Lamiaceae)

GENETIC DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN Plectranthus grandis CRAMER AND Plectranthus barbatus ANDR. (LAMIACEAE)^*

Helna Célia R. Passinho¹, Rogério Margis^1,2, Durvalina Félix¹, Carla S. Maia³ and Maria Auxiliadora C. Kaplan^1,3

¹Laboratório de Genética Molecular Vegetal, Instituto de Biofísica, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.

2Departamento de Bioquímica, Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.

3Núcleo de Pesquisas de Produtos Naturais, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.

The genus Plectranthus belongs to the family Lamiaceae, sub-family Nepetoidea, superorder Lamiiflorae (Dahlgren 1980) and encompasses 350 species widespread in subtropical and tropical regions. Several species of Plectranthus, have economic importance for being source of aromatic essential oil, and as ornamental plants. Besides, they are used as spices in cookery, being appreciated by the flavour. In Brazil Plectranthus grandis and Plectranthus barbatus are usually used in folk medicine to treat many diseases, the most popular use being for gastric lesions. The increased use of these phytomedicines and the frequent mix-up of similar Lamiaceae species or "quasi-species'' have brought strong health problem for the population. Thus this study intent to look for an irrefutable method to validate the medicinal plant material. The Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) is a multilocus marker technique, which shows higher informative value when compared with others DNA based fingerprinting methods and it has been used as a valuable tool to study patterns of genetic variability. The genomic DNAs have been extracted from plant leaves using a hexadecyltrimethylamine bromide (CTAB) extraction method; digested with EcoRI and Msel enzimes; selectivity amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and analysed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The analysis of AFLP products showed genetic variation among and within populations of Plectranthus.

— ( November 23, 1999 ) .

*

Supported by: CNPq/CAPES.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  07 Aug 2000
• Date of issue
  June 2000