PARTE UTILIZADA= Used part: Partes aéreas.

ACCIÓN FARMACOLÓGICA= Pharmacological action: Usado como gargarísmo para irritación de garganta.

COMPOSICIÓN QUÍMICA= Chemical composition: In anthocyanin-producing flowers of Matthiola incana, the presence of naringenin, naringenin 7-glucoside, dihydrokaempferol and dihydrokaempferol 7-glucoside could be demonstrated. The four isolated compounds initiated anthocyanin synthesis after administration to acyanic flowers of genetically defined lines of Matthiola incana and Antirrhinum majus. Therefore, these compounds cannot be regarded as end-products but rather as intermediates in anthocyanin biosynthesis. Furthermore, naringenin 7-glucoside and dihydrokaempferol 7-glucoside most probably act as a pool for their aglycones, which serve as the actual substrates.

ZONA GEOGRÁFICA= Geografical zone: Uruguay. 

DIVERSIDAD GENÉTICA Y MEJORAMIENTO DE PLANTAS MEDICINALES= Medicinal plants and improvement of medicinal herbs:

TTG1 (Transparent Testa Glabra 1), a WD-40 repeat protein, is involved in regulation of flavonoid/anthocyanin biosynthesis, seed coat (mucilage) development/pigmentation and trichome formation in leaves. Here, we characterized the TTG1 gene of Matthiola incana wild type (e locus), showing 85.3% similarity to TTG1 of A. thaliana on the nucleotide level and 96.2% on the protein level. A white-flowered and glabrous mutant, line 17, of M. incana exhibits one nucleotide change, leading to an amino acid substitution directly in the WD motif (W158R). Correspondingly, the DFR (dihydroflavonol 4-reductase) gene, in which the expression is known to be dependent on TTG1, is not expressed in Matthiola mutant lines 17 (and 19). Comparison of the GC content of the Matthiola TTG1 (54.1%) and Arabidopsis TTG1 (46.1%) genes revealed a strong difference, mostly obtained by neutral substitutions (C to T transitions). To examine whether this is an ecologically influenced trend, a fragment of TTG1 was characterized from another Matthiola species (M. tricuspidata) and from Malcolmia flexuosa subsp. naxensis from the eastern Mediterranean, near a beach with sandy and salty soils. Both Matthiola species have a higher GC content in the TTG1 gene than Arabidopsis and the closer-related Malcolmia, indicating that the GC content is rather an evolutionary than an ecological signal. A similar WD-40 repeat protein gene (containing no intron in the 3′ untranslated region) with high similarity to the Arabidopsis TTG1-like (AtAN11) gene was found in Matthiola. © 2008 German Botanical Society and The Royal Botanical Society of the Netherlands.

Origin

Native of Europe; grown as ornamental.

Action:

Expectorant, diuretic, stomachic.

1) GONZALEZ, Matías ; LOMBARDO, Atilio ; VALLARINO, Aida. Plantas de la medicina vulgar del Uruguay. Montevideo : Talleres Gráficos, 1937, p.14.

2) FORKMANN, G. Flavanones and dihydroflavonols as biosynthetic intermediates in Matthiola incana. Phytochemistry. 1979, vol.18, nº12, p.1973-1975.
 
3) DRESSEL, A. ; HEMLEBEN, V. Transparent Testa Glabra 1 (TTG1) and TTG1-like genes in Matthiola incana R. Br. and related Brassicaceae and mutation in the WD-40 motif. Plant Biology. 2009, vol.11, nº2, p.204-212.

4) Khare, C.P./ Indian Medicinal Plants. -- Nueva Dheli: Springer, 2007 . - p  404.