Identification of Gene and evaluation of biological activities in berries of Solanum nigrum (Linn.)–a medicinal plant of North India

Chandan Prasad¹, Vimal Kumar^{*, 2}, S.K. Srivastava¹, Sanjay Asthana¹, Kamal Kumar³, Ashok Naglot⁴, R.B. Srivastava^5
1Department of Chemistry, D.A.V. P.G. College, Kanpur -208001, Uttar Pradesh, India.
²Science Laboratory, Archaeological Survey of India, Dehradun-248001, Uttrakhand, India.
³Defence Materials and Stores Research and Development Establishment, Kanpur- 208013, Uttar Pradesh, India.
⁴Defence Research Laboratory, Post Bag 2, Tezpur-784001, Assam, India.
⁵Defence Institute of High Altitude Research, c/o 56 APO -901205, India.

A B S T R A C T
Solanum nigrum is a small-sized shrub which is distributed throughout India, Ceylon, and all temperate and tropical zones of the world. The fruit is described as highly medicinal being used as laxative, alternative, aphrodisiac, tonic, diuretic; improves appetite and taste; useful in disease of heart and eye, dysentrery, hiccough, vomiting, asthama, bronchitis, fever, urinary discharges and improving the voice and also useful in erysipelas and rat bite, hydrophobia. The aim of this study was to identify the gene which is responsible for the high antioxidant and antimicrobial activity in berries of Solanum nigrum (S. nigrum) by employing fast and accurate molecular approach to facilitate early detection of two RAPD groups from leaves of red and dark violet berries of S. nigrum. A unique band was found present in dark violet berries of S. nigrum responsible for higher biological efficacy as compared red berries. The water extract of S. nigrum dark violet berries showed highest free radical scavenging activity in DPPH assay. The ethanol extract of S. nigrum berries exhibited higher antioxidant potential than water extract in FRAP assay whereas the water extract was found to be most effective in βCL assay. The water extract showed very wide zone of inhibition against streptococcus salvarius (19.16 ± 0.27 mm in red berries and 37.44 ± 0.29 mm in Dark violet  berries) and Fusarium oxyporum f.sp-lini (17.71 ± 0.36 mm in red berries and 33.11 ± 0.30 mm in Dark violet berries) at 500 ppm concentration as compared to other strains. This study showed that water and ethanol extracts have powerful antioxidant activity in the berries of S. nigrum to that of various antioxidant systems in vitro. It also showed antimicrobial activity in water extract of fruits against microbes under test. Moreover, these extracts can be used as easily acceptable source of natural antioxidants, as a possible food supplement or may be useful in pharmaceutical applications.
Keywords: Gene, RAPD, antioxidants, antibacterial activity, Solanum nigrum, Fusarium.