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

Differential display was used to isolate genes which are expressed specifically in thermoinhibited achenes of Tagetes minuta L. Of the 62 thermoinhibition-associated cDNAs identified, thirteen were cloned. Three clones for each cDNA were selected and reverse northern analysis used to confirm that all 39 clones were specific to the mRNA pool of thermoinhibited achenes only. High quality sequence data were obtained for 27 of these. Alignment of the various sequences revealed that a total of 14 different sequences had been cloned, indicating that several of the bands isolated from the differential display gels contained multiple sequences. Electronic homology searches tentatively identified three of the sequences, whilst the remainder did not show any significant homology to known sequences. Of the sequences identified, one may encode a plant transcription factor-like or nuclear RNA-binding protein, another an RNase-L inhibitor-like protein and the third a miraculin homologue. The potential roles of these genes in the imposition and maintenance of the thermoinhibited state are discussed. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that thermoinhibition in T. minuta achenes is under positive genetic control, in a manner analogous to embryo dormancy. © Springer 2005. 

ÚLTIMOS AVANCES EN LA QUÍMICA Y ACTIVIDADES BACTERIOLÓGICAS EN LAS PLANTAS MEDICINALES= Medicinal plants, last advances on chemistry and bacteria activities on the medicinal herbs

1) Repellents based on essential oils (EO) are being developed as an alternative to DEET (N,N-diethyl-m-methylbenzamide), an effective compd. that has disadvantages including toxic reactions and damage to plastic and synthetic fabric.  This work evaluated the repellency against Aedes aegypti of EO from arom. plants that grow in Argentina: Acantholippia seriphioides, Achyrocline satureioides, Aloysia citriodora, Anemia tomentosa, Baccharis spartioides, Chenopodium ambrosioides, Eucalyptus saligna, Hyptis mutabilis, Minthostachys mollis, Rosmarinus officinalis, Tagetes minuta and Tagetes pusilla.  Most EO were effective.  Variations depending on geog. origin of the plant were detected.  At a 90% EO concn., A. satureoides and T. pusilla were the least repellent.  At concns. of 12.5% B. spartioides, R. officinalis and A. citriodora showed the longest repellency times.  Comparisons of the principal components of each EO suggest that limonene and camphor were the main components responsible for the repellent effects.

2) The essential oil content and chem. compn. of Tagetes minuta L. was detd. at different harvesting times of budding, full flowering and fruit set stages.  The oil was obtained by hydrodistn. of all samples, and was analyzed by GC and GC/MS.  The oil content of samples which were harvested at budding, full flowering and fruit set stages were 1.55%, 1.44% and 1.0% (wt./wt.) on a dry wt. basis, resp.  Nineteen, 20 and 19 compds. have been identified in the oils of budding, full flowering and fruit set stages of T. minuta, resp.  The major compds. were limonene, dihydrotagetone, (Z)-tagetone, (E)-ocimenone and alpha-terpineol.  The results showed that harvest times had a major effect on the constituents of the oil of T. minuta.

3) The essential oils from aerial parts of Tagetes minuta L. grown in Egypt, South Africa and the UK were obtained by hydrodistn.  Although they had similar constituents, the oils had different percentage compns.  Dihydrotagetone was the most abundant component of the oils from the UK (34.3 and 54.1%), while the oils from South Africa and Egypt were characterized by a high content of cis-beta-ocimene (50.9 and 32.0%, resp.).  The oils exhibited antibacterial activity, esp. against Gram-pos. bacteria.  Antimicrobial activity was greater in oils from the UK than in oils from Egypt or South Africa, irresp. of whether the UK plants had been grown in a greenhouse or in the field.  The min. inhibitory concns. (MIC) for the oil from UK greenhouse-grown plants were 6.25-25 mg/mL for Gram-pos. bacteria and 25-50 mg/mL for Gram-neg. bacteria, with the lowest MIC of 6.25 mg/mL against Streptococcus faecalis.  Oil from plants from South Africa had MICs of 50-100 mg/mL against Gram-pos. and Gram-neg. bacteria.  The MICs of oil from plants from Egypt against all tested bacteria except Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella typhi were half of the MICs of oil from plants from South Africa.

PARTE UTILIZADA= Used part: Hojas.

ACCIÓN FARMACOLÓGICA= Pharmacological action: Amargo-aromático, diurético, diaforético, antihelmíntico, sudorífico, digestivo, catártico, estomacal, afrodisíaco, antirreumático, antiblenorágico. 

COMPOSICIÓN QUÍMICA= Chemical composition: Planta rica en esencia (0,5%) que se resinifica con facilidad, contiene diversos terpenos. El aceite esencial contiene bitenil, 2-2`:5-(3-buten-1-inil), canfeno, cinerina I y II, citral, ácidos fórmico y acético, monometilfumarato, 5-isobutil-3-metil-furano-2-carbaldehído, jasmolina I y II, limoneno, linalool, cis-ocimenona, transocimenona, patulitrina, feniletanol, alfa- y beta-pineno, piretrina I,II, quercetagetrina, salicaldehído, ácido siringico, tagetona, cis-tagetona, dihidrotagetona, alfa-tertienil, tiofeno, tiofeno y ácido valariánico. 

ZONA GEOGRÁFICA= Geografical zone: Argentina.  

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Enfermedad o síntoma
Dolor de estómago

Parásitos

Parte utilizada
Hoja y flor

Forma de preparación
Infusión

Modo de administración
Vía oral

Vía oral (para los parásitos intestinales)

Origen
Tucumán, Argentina

Summary
Tagetes minuta (Asteraceae) is a medicinal herb native to the warm regions of our continent. Popularly known by the English name of marigold, this species is used not only for several medicinal purposes, but also as an effective insecticidal agent, and as a food dye. Although early studies suggest that the essential oil of marigold may possess a wide spectrum of pharmacological activities, at present the best documented are the antimicrobial, antimycotic and insecticidal properties, which validate some of the traditional uses of this plant.

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Origin
“Cariri Paraibano”, Brazil
Medicinal indication
As sedative: Leaves
Against fevers, amenorrhea and as vermifuge: Leaves

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Origin:
Northern sector of Kibale National Park, Uganda
Disease treated:
Appetite, healing after delivery: FL

1) TOURSARKISSIAN, Martín. Plantas medicinales de Argentina : sus nombres botánicos, vulgares, usos y distribución geográfica. Buenos Aires : Hemisferio Sur, 1980, 178p.

2) 270 (doscientos setenta) plantas medicinales iberoamericanas. Santiago de Bogotá : CYTED-SECAB, 1995, 617p.

3) HILLS, P.; BALAZS, E.; VAN STADEN, J. Isolation of cDNA clones for genes that are differentially expressed during thermoinhibition in achenes of Tagetes minuta L. Plant Growth Regulation. v. 45(1): 83-94. 2005.

4) GILLIJ, Y. G.; GLEISER, R. M.; ZYGADLO, J. A. Mosquito repellent activity of essential oils of aromatic plants growing in Argentina. Bioresource Technology . 2008, vol.99, nº7, p.2507-2515.
 
5) MOGHADDAM, M.; OMIDBIAGI, R.; SEFIDKON, F. Changes in content and chemical composition of Tagetes minuta oil at various harvest times.  Journal of Essential Oil Research . 2007, vol.19, nº1, p.18-20.
 
6) SENATORE, Felice, et al.  Antibacterial activity of Tagetes minuta L. (Asteraceae) essential oil with different chemical composition. Flavour and Fragrance Journal . 2004, vol.19, nº6, p.574-578.

7) Plantas medicinales autóctonas de la Argentina. Bases científicas para su aplicación en atención primaria de la salud / Jorge Alonso y Cristian Jorge Desmarchelier. - 1a ed. - Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires: Corpus Libros Médicos y Científicos, 2015.

8) Ceballos, Sergio J.; Perea Mario C./ Boletín Latinoamericano y del Caribe de Plantas Medicinales y Aromáticas, vol 13, no 1, 2014. - p. 47 - 68

9) Jane Namukobe; et al. / Traditional plants used for medicinal purposes by local communities around the Northern sector of Kibale National Park, Uganda. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2011(136) p. 242.