DIVERSIDAD GENÉTICA Y MEJORAMIENTO DE PLANTAS MEDICINALES:
 
The plastid genome (plastome) is a rich source of phylogenetic and other comparative data in plants.  Most land plants possess a plastome of similar structure.  However, in a major group of plants, the ferns, a unique plastome structure has evolved.  The gene order in ferns has been explained by a series of genomic inversions relative to the plastome organization of seed plants.  Here, we examine for the first time the structure of the plastome across fern phylogeny.  We used a PCR-based strategy to map and partially sequence plastomes.  We found that a pair of partially overlapping inversions in the region of the inverted repeat occurred in the common ancestor of most ferns.  However, the ancestral (seed plant) structure is still found in early diverging branches leading to the osmundoid and filmy fern lineages.  We found that a second pair of overlapping inversions occurred on a branch leading to the core leptosporangiates.  We also found that the unique placement of the gene matK in ferns (lacking a flanking intron) is not a result of a large-scale inversion, as previously thought.  This is because the intron loss maps to an earlier point on the phylogeny than the nearby inversion.  We speculate on why inversions may occur in pairs and what this may mean for the dynamics of plastome evolution.

ÚLTIMOS AVANCES EN LA QUÍMICA Y ACTIVIDADES BACTERIOLÓGICAS EN LAS PLANTAS MEDICINALES
 
1) The present study was undertaken to evaluate the ability of some Indian ferns to accumulate and tolerate arsenic.  Twelve species of Indian ferns were exposed to 10 mg L-1 arsenic as sodium arsenate for 15 days in hydroponic system.  Depending on the arsenic uptake in the plant parts, Pteris vittata, Pteris cretica, Adiantum capillus-veneris and Nephrolepis exaltata may be categorized as arsenic accumulator.  Further, A. capillus-veneris plants were grown in arsenic contaminated soil (200-600 mg kg-1) under greenhouse condition, to assess its arsenic accumulation and tolerance mechanism, in comparison to known As-hyperaccumulator P. vittata, growing in the same conditions.  The expt. identified A. capillus-veneris having a potential to tolerate arsenic up to 500 mg kg-1.  The plants were analyzed for the extent of oxidative stress, as a result of arsenic accumulation.  A. capillus-veneris was able to detoxify the arsenic stress through induction of antioxidant defense system.
 
2) Spatio-temporal variations in biochem. and physicochem. parameters of Adiantum shoots during different seasons and sites of Soone Valley in Salt Range were investigated.  Adiantum was located only at two sites i.e. at Knotty Garden during all the four seasons and at Dape Sharif site only during spring.  All the parameters studied varied significantly during different seasons and at both sites.  It was obsd. that dry matter, fiber and total mineral contents were the max. during winter whereas, moisture, fat and protein contents were the highest during autumn at Knotti Garden.  In contrast, NFES and NFE were found higher during spring at Dape Sharif.  Among the ionic contents studied, Ca, P and Fe were higher during spring at Dape Sharif where as N and K contents were more during autumn at Knotti Garden.  Mg and Zn were the max. during summer and spring at Knotti Garden resp.  Partial RDA of the data revealed that phenols and flavonoids were assocd. with spring at Knotti Garden where as, alkaloids were assocd. with spring at Dape Sharif.  Thus, assocn. of phenolics and flavonoids with Knotti Garden was due to low temp. stress, where that of alkaloids with Dape Sharif with high pH and EC of the site.

3) Maidenhair fern plant grown around the city of Dezful, Iran, lacks any essential oil.  Extn. of the powd. leaves by Soxhlet extn. method in toluene has superiority over the maceration method.  Chromatog. sepn. of the solid crude product by using chloroform as mobile phase resulted in the sepn. of two main fractions with (Rf = 0.31 and Rf = 0.58).  On the basis of various spectra of the two fractions and comparison of the spectra with the std. ones, the two fractions were identified as 24-nor-lupan-3-one  and lup-20(29)en-28-ol (jasminol)(2)/urs-20-en-16-ol (3), resp.

Patente extraída del Chemical Abstracts= Pharmacological action
 
Plant polynucleotides and polypeptides associated with increasing agronomic traits, their sequences and use in producing transgenic plants with enhanced traits.      Vinocur, Basia Judith; Diber, Alex; Karchi, Hagai.  (Evogene Ltd., Israel).    PCT Int. Appl.  (2010),     637pp.  CODEN: PIXXD2  WO  2010143138  A2  20101216  Designated States W: AE, AG, AL, AM, AO, AT, AU, AZ, BA, BB, BG, BH, BR, BW, BY, BZ, CA, CH, CL, CN, CO, CR, CU, CZ, DE, DK, DM, DO, DZ, EC, EE, EG, ES, FI, GB, GD, GE, GH, GM, GT, HN, HR, HU, ID, IL, IN, IS, JP, KE, KG, KM, KN, KP, KR, KZ, LA, LC, LK, LR, LS, LT, LU, LY, MA, MD, ME, MG, MK, MN, MW, MX, MY, MZ, NA, NG, NI, NO, NZ, OM, PE, PG, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, RU, SC, SD, SE, SG, SK, SL, SM, ST, SV, SY, TH, TJ.  Designated States RW: AT, BE, CH, CY, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, IE, IS, IT, LU, MC, MT, NL, NO, PT, SE, SM, TR, BF, BJ, CF, CG, CI, CM, GA, ML, MR, NE, SN, TD, TG.  Patent  written in English.    Application: WO  2010-IB52545  20100608.  Priority: US  2009-213457P  20090610; US  2009-272764P  20091030.  CAN 154:40924    AN 2010:1569084    CAPLUS   (Copyright (C) 2011 ACS on SciFinder (R)) 

The invention provides plant polynucleotides assocd. with increasing agronomic traits, such as nitrogen or water use efficiency, yield, growth rate, vigor, biomass, oil content, fiber yield or quality, and/or abiotic stress tolerance, and their use in generating constructs for transforming plants.  The invention also provides the polypeptides encoded by said plant polynucleotides, which are recombinantly expressed in transgenic plants resulting in the enhancement of the disclosed agronomic traits.  The invention related that the inventors used bioinformatic tools to identify 257 polynucleotides/genes that had a major impact on the disclosed traits, and to identify many sequences homologous to these 257 polynucleotides.  The invention further provides the nucleotide and amino acid sequences of the 257 identified genes, as well as numerous homologs of the 257 genes found in various plants.

The infusion of the leaves is said to be an abortifacient and is used to "purify the blood" (Cabrera n.d.; Martìnez 1969).

PARTE UTILIZADA= Used part: Las frondas (hojas) frescas.

ACCIÓN FARMACOLÓGICA= Pharmacological action: Béquico, expectorante, pectoral, estimulante, diaforético y emenagogo.

POSOLOGÍA= Posology: Catarro, resfriado o tos. Infusión de 20g de hojas frescas en medio litro de agua durante 15 minutos. Filtrar y agregar 4 cucharadas de miel. Disolver bien y tomar todo el líquido en 2 tomas: la mitad en ayunas y la otra mitad al acostarse. Para la tos se suele tomar durante el día poco a poco, aa sorbos.

COMPOSICIÓN QUÍMICA= Chemical composition: Es rica en mucílagos; lleva también taninos, principios amargos, ácido gálico y aceite esencial en pequeña cantidad.

ZONA GEOGRÁFICA= Geografical zone: Caminos de Santiago.

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Parte utilizada:
Parte aérea
Propiedades:
Pectoral, febrífugo, emenagogo, antirreumático. En uso externo, fortifica el cuero cabelludo.
Indicaciones:
El té de culantrillo, en infusión, se emplea para combatir los males del pecho, ayudar en a expectoración, aumentar el apetito y facilitar la digestión, tomando una cucharadita de postre por taza tres veces al día. De igual manera, esta importante hierba se usa para curar el reumatismo, para calmar los dolores y sequedades de la garganta. Es muy aconsejable para las mujeres, especialmente en la edad crítica, ya que sirve para corregir las reglas menstruales. También se usa para lavar los cabellos, porque fortifica el cuero cabelludo, evita la caída del pelo y estimula su crecimiento.

1) ALFARO, Txumari, Plantas y remedios naturales de los caminos de santiago. Barcelona: B.S.A. 2008, 285pp.

2) WOLF, Paul G.; ROPER, Jessie M.; DUFFY, Aaron M. The evolution of chloroplast genome structure in ferns.  Genome  2010,  vol. 53, nº.9,  p. 731-738.       

3) SINGH, Nandita, et al. Arsenic accumulation pattern in 12 Indian ferns and assessing the potential of Adiantum capillus-veneris, in comparison to Pteris vittata, as arsenic hyperaccumulator.  Bioresource Technology. 2010, vol.101, nº23, p.8960-8968.
 
3) AHAMAD, Iftikhar, et al. Spatio-temporal variations in physiochemical attributes of Adiantum capillus veneris from Soone Valley of Salt Range (Pakistan).  Pakistan Journal of Botany. 2008, vol.40, nº4, p.1387-1398.
 
4) NASERI, N. Gharib; ASHNAGAR, A.; NIA, S. Jahani.   Isolation and structural determination of the major chemical compounds possibly found in the leaves of maidenhair plant (Adiantum capillus-veneris. L) grown around the city of Dezful, Iran.  International Journal of Chemical Sciences. 2006, vol.4, nº4, p.874-880

5) María Stella Cáceres A.; et al./ MANUAL DE USO DE HIERBAS MEDICINALES
DEL PARAGUAY/ Fundación Celestina de Pérez Almada con apoyo de Unesco Montevideo. p. 46.