Abstract

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ON THE TWO VARIANTS OF SOLANUM TRILOBATUM

Ananya Ravindran, S. Sunanda Krishnan and Dr. Mathangi Ganapathy*

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Abstract

Solanum trilobatum is a well known medicinal plant that belongs to the family of Solanaceae, order: Solanales and Genus: Solanum. It is native to India and is found everywhere in Tamil Nadu. Two variants of this plant are present in nature, the common one has purplish violet flowers and the rare one has white flowers. Literature claims the white variant to be more therapeutic but no scientific evidence has been reported. The variants breed true and distinction can be made only during flowering, showing the variation in gene regulation happens only during the flowering phase of the plant and not in the vegetative phase. Although the whole plant has medical properties, the preliminary tests show that the root is the most potent part of them all. The current paper reports that the white flowered variant has better anti-microbial, anti-fungal, anti-diabetic (11.97% more) and antioxidant (6.7 % more) properties. However, the purple leaf had the best inhibition effect in anticancer activity (33.48% more) followed by the purple root (15.91%). Phytochemical screening of both the variants showed the presence of carbohydrates, alkaloids, glycosides, xanthoproteins, terpenoids and saponins in leaves whereas, roots possess flavonoids, in addition to the other phytoconstituents mentioned above. Berries possess alkaloids, flavonoids, carbohydrates, glycoside, xanthoproteins and saponins. Flowers seem to possess only flavonoids, xanthoproteins and terpenoids. Literature shows that 2n=24 in Solanum trilobatum (purple flower variant). However, genetic analysis has to be done to show the difference and the evolutionary connection between the 2 variants. This is the first report of the therapeutic properties of Solanum trilobatum white flowered variant, to our knowledge.

Keywords: Solanum trilobatum, purple flowers, white flowers, root, leaf, berry, phytochemical, antimicrobial activity, antifungal activity, anticancer activity, anti diabetic activity, antioxidant activity.