Analysis of Antimicrobial Potential and Molecular Characterization of Sonchus oleraceus from different Districts of Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

newline ix newlineABSTRACT newlineIn the present study, Himalayan Sonchus oleraceus extracts are screened for the occurrence of bioactive compounds, antimicrobial activity and its molecular characterization using RAPD. The agar well diffusion method was used to detect antimicrobial activity of aqueous, methanol, chloroform and ethyl acetate extracts of S. oleraceus. The antimicrobial activity of different extracts was checked at the different concentrations i.e. at 150mg/ml, 200mg/ml, 250mg/ml and 300mg/ml against five bacteria namely Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi. The antimicrobial activity of the different extracts of S. oleraceus was associated with the concentration. In phytochemical screening alkaloids, flavonoids, protein, carbohydrates, tannins, phenol, terpenoids and saponins were confirm in different extracts. The primers OPA-1, OPA-9, OPA-16, TC-1 and TC-3 were used in molecular characterization using RAPD against 14 samples collected from five districts namely Kangra, Una, Bilaspur, Hamirpur and Solan of Himachal Pradesh. Cluster analysis revealed that isolates H1 and H3, H2 and S2, U1 and U2 were showing maximum homology. However, at similarity scale value of 0.2 (~57% similarity level) few of the isolates got divided into two independent groups, which were distantly related to each other. The first group comprises of isolates B1, B3, H1 and H3, and the second group comprises of isolates K3, B2, H2, S2, U1 and U2. The isolate K1 from Kangra district was found to be distantly related to the other two samples from the same district, viz., K2 and K3. While, the isolate S1 from Solan district was also found to be distantly related to the other S2 isolate from the same district. Similarly the isolate U1 from Una district was found to be distantly related to the other U2 and U3 isolates from the same district. However, the isolates B1 and B3 from the Bilaspur district were found to be closely related to each other, but were both distantly related to the isolate B2 from the same district. In comparison to all the isolates, isolate K1 from the Kangra district showed least homology to all the other isolates from total covered five districts of Himachal Pradesh. newlineKeywords: S. oleraceus, methanol extract, chloroform extract, ethyl acetate extract, aqueous extract, antimicrobial activity, RAPD, K. pneumoniae, S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, E. coli and S. typhi.