Assessment of phytochemical, antioxidant and genetic diversities among selected medicinal plant species of Mimosoideae (Mimosaceae)

Abstract

Mimosoids form a major group in legumes. Of which, most of the members are traditionally reported remedies to diseases in rural India. However, proper justification and validation of their traditional practice are lacking. Hence, we intended to explore a comprehensive account of phytochemical profiling, antioxidant activity and genetic variation among selected ethnomedicinal species of Mimosoideae (Mimosaceae). The phytochemical study confirmed the presence of alkaloid, tannin, phenolic and flavonoid in all selected members. Antioxidant profiling through DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl), OH^● (Hydroxyl radical), NO (nitric oxide), and TAA (total antioxidant activity) assays was found to be significant (p < 0.001). In fact, all the extracts exhibited higher scavenging potentiality than the respective standards underlining their ethnomedicinal significance. An attempt was also made to analyze the genetic diversity of nine selected Mimosoids employing RAPD and DNA barcode analysis. A total of 330 amplified distinct bands, ranging from 190-1763 bp with 100 % of polymorphism were yielded through RAPD analysis. The dendrogram constructed clearly revealed the genetic relatedness among the species of Mimosoids validating conventional classification. We further correlated the dendrogram with phytochemical profiling. What's more, two phylogenetic dendrograms of matK and TrnL-F loci of selected taxa clearly showed inter-generic and intra-generic diversity among the nine studied species as a first-hand information.