Application of Molecular Markers in Predicting Production Quality of Cultivated Cistanche deserticola

Abstract

Cistanche deserticola Y. C. MA, a member of Orobanchaceae family, is a holoparasite mainly distributed in Neimenggu and Xinjiang, northwest of China. The dried fleshy stems of the parasitic plant are known as Herba Cistanches. In China, Herba Cistanches is a commonly prescribed traditional Chinese medicine to treat various diseases including impotence, female infertility, morbid leukorrhea, profuse metrorrhagia, cold sensation in the loins and knees, and chronic constipation in the aged. 1) Nowadays, it is reported to enhance sex and learning behavior, 2) and to possess the sedative and vasorelaxant effects. 3,4) In addition, Herba Cistanches is a healthy food supplement for men's care in Japan and Southeast Asia. The ingredient associated with the pharmacological activities of Herba Cistanches is echinacoside, which has significant vasorelaxant, neuroprotective, hepatoprotective effects. [4][5][6] The echinacoside content is commonly used as a quality control marker of Herba Cistanches, therefore.On the other hand, due to its wide medical use and consequent over exploitation, the natural source of C. deserticola has become rare and has been listed as a class II endangered species in China. Nowadays, the plants cultivated in Neimenggu and Xinjiang have become the main source of C. deserticola. However, the production quality of cultivated plant varies resulting from lack of standards for selecting high quality cultivars.Harnessing genetic variability by adopting conventional breeding strategies entails a huge investment of time and resources. To speed up progress in classical breeding programs and detecting of high quality plants at a very early stage of cultivation, it is important to identify certain DNA markers related to genomic regions for traits such as quality and productivity. This would enable the breeders to make selections among seedlings grown in a non-target environment. 7)As the greater adoption of marker-assistant selection (MAS) is inevitable, 8) molecular markers associated with quantity traits is widely studied in recent years. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-linked markers associated with production yield and its components in Miscanthus sinensis, 9) fruit sugar concentration in tomato, 10) S-glycoprotein in Brassica campestris, 11) and inter-simple-sequence repeat (ISSR) markers linked to yield traits in mulberry, 12) horticultural traits for watermelon, 13) seasonal flowering locus in Fragaria have been successfully identified. Also the prediction models for quantity traits have been effectively applied in the crop productions, such as prediction models for mite resistance with molecular markers in coconut, 14) genetic and environmental effects on chemical composition related to sensory traits in common beans, 15) and prediction of yield component performances in hybrid rice using molecular markers technology. 16,17) However, there are no reports on prediction models or specific molecular markers associated with quantity traits in C. deserticola.Our previous chemical and genetic anal...

Echinacoside Stimulates Cell Proliferation and Prevents Cell Apoptosis in Intestinal Epithelial MODE-K Cells by Up-Regulation of Transforming Growth Factor-β1 Expression

“…Echinacoside (ECH) is a major component of phenylethanoid glycosides (PhG) (> 50% of total PhG) isolated from C. deserticola (9) and has been used as a biomarker for quality control of the C. deserticola-containing laxative drug Ronggui Tongbian Capsule (10) or for the production quality control of cultivated C. deserticola (11). ECH has been demonstrated to be cytoprotective both in an animal model of Parkinson's disease (12,13) and a model of lung injury (14) and in cultured pheochromocytoma cells (PC12) (15,16); and it has been shown to enhance cellular division of human fibroblastic cells (MRC-5) (17).…”