Identification of ISSR markers associated with valerenic acid content and antioxidant activity in Valeriana jatamansi Jones in the West Himalaya

Abstract

Valeriana jatamansi Jones, commonly known as Indian Valerian or Tagar (Family: Valerinaceae) is used in both traditional and modern systems of medicine. The plants of this species are known for their high content of valerenic acid, the main active constituent of valerian, and high antioxidant activity, and these characteristics have increased the demand for these plants by the pharmaceutical industry. At present, the demand for planting material is largely met from the harvesting of wild plants, which vary in quality and quantity of the active ingredient. Therefore, there is a need to identify individual plants/populations with a higher content of the active ingredients and higher antioxidant activity. We used inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) markers in 151 genotypes of 25 V. jatamansi populations to identify markers associated with valerenic acid and antioxidant activity. Of the 130 ISSR primers tested, 20 generated 159 bands, with an average of 7.95 bands per primer. Valerenic acid content was significantly (p \ 0.05) higher in the Katarmal (aerial portion 0.57 ± 0.04 %) and Joshimath populations (root portion 1.80 ± 0.12 %). Antioxidant activity using these different in vitro assays varied among the populations and plant portions, with maximum antioxidant activity found in the aerial plant portion (8.63 ± 0.06 mM) and roots [8.36 ± 0.0 mM ascorbic acid equivalents (AAE)/100 g dry weight (dw)] of the Didihat and Katarmal populations, respectively, using the ABTS [2, 2 0 -azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic)] assay. The DPPH (2, 2-diphenyl-1-picryylhydrazyl free radical scavenging) assay revealed maximum antioxidant activity in the aerial plant portion (15.23 ± 0.09 mM) and roots (17.53 ± 0.04 mM AAE/100 g dw) of the Didihat population. The FRAP (ferric-reducing antioxidant power) assay showed that the roots of plants of the Ukhimath population had significantly higher antioxidant activity (12.71 ± 0.04 mM AAE/100 g dw) than those of other populations of V. jatamansi. Based on the stepwise multiple regression analysis, seven positive and six negative markers showed significant association with valerenic acid content. Antioxidant activity measured by the ABTS, DPPH and FRAP assays showed a positive correlation with 14, 13 and 10 markers, respectively (p \ 0.001). These markers have the potential for application in breeding programmes in order to select lineages of V. jatamansi with higher biochemical attributes, especially when no other genetic information, such as linkage maps and quantitative trait loci is available.Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (

Integrated approaches for identification of promising populations of Valeriana jatamansi in West Himalaya

“…Similarly, antioxidant activity reported in the present study (Jugran et al 2015) by all three assays was higher compared with other plants like N. jatamansi and V. officinalis. Reports are also available on the antioxidant activity in extracts and essential oils of V. jatamansi (Kalim et al 2010;Das et al 2011;Bhatt et al 2012;Jugran et al 2013b).…”

“…Data pertaining to different morphological (leaf number, leaf area, plant height, AGFW, BGFW, AGDW, BGDW, RL, and RD), phytochemical (total phenolics, flavonoids, tannins, valerenic acid, and antioxidant activity), and molecular attributes (Nei's genetic diversity and %polymorphism) recorded among targeted populations revealed wide variations among the populations (Jugran et al 2013a;Jugran et al 2015). Different populations behave differently for each attribute.…”

“…jatamansi (family Valerinaceae) was collected from 25 different populations of Uttarakhand within an altitudinal range from 1000 m asl to 3000 m asl (Table 1; Figure 1). Different morphological and genetic attributes were analyzed across populations of V. jatamansi (Jugran et al 2013b;Jugran et al 2015). A total of 125 plants (5 plants/population) from 25 distant populations of V. jatamansi were subjected to detailed morphological analysis and various morphological attributes like leaf number, leaf area, plant height, above ground fresh weight (AGFW), below ground fresh weight (BGFW), above ground dry weight (AGDW), below ground dry weight (BGDW), rhizome length (RL), and rhizome diameter (RD) were evaluated.…”

Valeriana jatamansi: An herbaceous plant with multiple medicinal uses

“…Moreover, several molecular markers (intersimple sequence repeats markers) were also identified to be associated with the antioxidant activity of V. jatamansi measured by ABTS, DPPH, and FRAP assay, and their use in identification and breeding of quality plants was envisaged (Jugran, Bhatt, et al, ; Jugran et al, ). Likewise, enhanced antioxidant activity of mycorrhiza treated plants of V. jatamansi is also reported (Jugran, Bhatt, & Rawal, ).…”

Characterization and identification of ISSR markers associated with oil content in sea buckthorn berries

“…Similarly, four ISSR markers associating with resistance to dried-shrink disease of sea buckthorn were identified using stepwise multiple regression analysis (MRA) of resistance indices of 52 sea buckthorn accessions . Association of ISSR markers with desirable nutritional and agronomic traits such as r-cymene, g-terpinene, thymol, carvacrol, and borneol contents in forest savory ; sugar and protein contents in mulberry (Kar et al, 2008); antioxidant activity and valerenic acid content in Valeriana jatamansi Jones (Jugran et al, 2013(Jugran et al, , 2015; and fruit skin color, harvest time and soluble solids in sweet cherry (Ganopoulos et al, 2011) have been detected using MRA methods.…”