Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Medicinal parasitic plants on diverse hosts with their usages and barcodes

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Natural Medicines Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Medicinal properties of parasitic plants were investigated by means of ethnobotanical study in some areas of northeastern Thailand. Important traditional usages are: Scurrula atropurpurea nourishes blood, Dendrophthoe pentandra decreases high blood pressure, and Helixanthera parasitica treats liver disease. Their systematics were also determined. The research is based on findings obtained from 100 parasite–host pairs. Of these, eight parasitic species were recorded; they are members of two families, viz. family Loranthaceae, namely D. lanosa, D. pentandra, H. parasitica, Macrosolen brandisianus, M. cochinchinensis and S. atropurpurea, and family Viscaceae, namely Viscum articulatum and V. ovalifolium. In addition, each parasitic species is found on diverse hosts, indicating non-host-parasitic specificity. Species-specific tagging of all species studied was carried out using the rbcL and psbA-trnH chloroplast regions. These tag sequences are submitted to GenBank databases under accession numbers JN687563–JN687578. Genetic distances calculated from nucleotide variations in a couple of species of each genus, Dendrophthoe, Macrosolen, and Viscum, were 0.032, 0.067 and 0.036 in the rbcL region, and 0.269, 0.073 and 0.264 in the psbA-trnH spacer region, respectively. These variations will be used for further identification of incomplete plant parts or other forms such as capsule, powder, dried or chopped pieces.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Sornlump P (2000) Encyclopedia of medicinal plants, vol 4. Kokya Esarn, Mahidol University Foundation, Bangkok

  2. Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Mahidol University (2009) Scurrula atropurpurea (Blume) Danser. Matichon Newsweek 29:66

  3. Lirdprapamongkol K, Mahidol C, Thongnest S, Prawat H, Ruchirawat S, Srisomsap C, Surarit R, Punyarit P, Svasti J (2003) Anti-metastatic effects of aqueous extract of Helixanthera parasitica. J Ethnopharmacol 86:253–256

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Chuakul W, Sornlump P, Temsirirugkul R, Pownil W (1995) Siampisuchyaprugs: Pumpanya khong chad. Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Mahidol University, Bangkok

  5. Prasitpuriprecha C, Sripanidkulchai B, Lulitanond V, Saguansermsri J (2006) Evaluation of immunomodulating activity of selected Thai medicinal plants by lymphocytes proliferation assay. Indian J Pharm Sci 2:53–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Ohashi K, Winarno Mukai M, Shibuya H (2003) Preparation and cancer cell invasion inhibitory effects of C16-alkynic fatty acids. Chem Pharm Bull 51:463–466

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Wiart C (2006) Medicinal plants of the Asia-Pacific: drugs for the future. World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte Ltd, Singapore

    Book  Google Scholar 

  8. Ameer OZ, Salman IM, Siddiqui MJA, Yam MF, Sriramaneni RN, Mutee AF, Sadikun A, Ismail Z, Asmawi MZ (2009) Vascular responsiveness to Macrosolen cochinchinenesis extracts in isolated rat thoracid aorta. Int J Pharmacol 5:191–199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Hebert PDN, Cywinska A, Ball SL, de Waard JR (2003) Biological identifications through DNA barcodes. Proc R Soc Lond B 270:313–321

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Hebert PDN, Gregory TR (2005) The promise of DNA barcoding for taxonomy. Syst Biol 54:852–859

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Palmer JD (1985) Comparative organization of chloroplast genome. Annu Rev Genet 19:325–354

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Palmer JD (1991) Plastid chromosomes: structure and evolution. In: Bogorad L, Vasil IK (eds) The molecular biology of plastids. Cell culture and somatic cell genetics of plants, vol 7a. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 5–53

  13. Downie SR, Palmer JD (1991) Use of chloroplast DNA rearrangements in reconstructing plant phylogeny. In: Soltis PS, Soltis DE, Doyle JJ (eds) Molecular systematics of plants. Chapman and Hall, New York, pp 14–35

    Google Scholar 

  14. Katayama H, Ogihara Y (1993) Structural alterations of the chloroplast genome found in grasses are not common in monocots. Curr Genet 23:160–165

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Downie SR, Llanas E, Katz-Downie DS (1996) Multiple independent losses of the rpoC1 intron in angiosperm chloroplast DNAs. Syst Bot 21:135–151

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Thiede J, Schmidt SA, Rudolph B (2007) Phylogenetic implication of chloroplast rpoC1 intron loss in the Aizoaceae (Caryophyllales). Biochem Syst Ecol 35:372–380

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Kress WJ, Wurdack KJ, Zimmer EA, Weigt LA, Janzen DH (2005) Use of DNA barcodes to identify flowering plants. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102:8369–8374

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Chase MW, Cowan RS, Hollingsworth PM, Berg C, Madriñán S, Petersen G, Seberg O, Jorgsensen T, Cameron KM, Carine M, Pedersen N, Hedderson TAJ, Conrad F, Salazar G, Richardson JE, Hollingsworth ML, Barraclough TG, Kelly L, Wilkinson M (2007) A proposal for a standardised protocol to barcode all land plants. Taxon 56:295–299

    Google Scholar 

  19. Newmaster SG, Fazekas AJ, Steeves AJ, Janovec J (2008) Testing candidate plant barcode regions in the Myristicaceae. Mol Ecol Resour 8:480–490

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Hollingsworth PM, Forrest LL, Spouge JL, Hajibabaei M, Ratnasingham S, van der Bank M, Chase MW, Cowan RS, Erickson DL, Fazekas AJ, Graham SW, James KE, Kim KJ, Kress WJ, Schneider H, van Alphen Stahl J, Barrett SC, van den Berg C, Bogarin D, Burgess KS, Cameron KM, Carine M, Chacón J, Clark A, Clarkson JJ, Conrad F, Devey DS, Ford CS, Hedderson TA, Hollingsworth ML, Husband BC, Kelly LJ, Kesanakurti PR, Kim JS, Kim YD, Lahaye R, Lee HL, Long DG, Madriñán S, Maurin O, Meusnier I, Newmaster SG, Park CW, Percy DM, Petersen G, Richardson JE, Salazar GA, Savolainen V, Seberg O, Wilkinson MJ, Yi DK, Little DPA (2009) DNA barcode for land plants. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 106:12794–12797

  21. Barlow BA (2002) Loranthaceae. In: Santisuk T, Larsen K (eds), Flora of Thailand, volume 7 part 4. Prachachon Co. Ltd., Bangkok, pp 665–706, 707–719

  22. Tamura K, Peterson D, Peterson N, Stecher G, Nei M, Kumar S (2011) MEGA5: molecular evolutionary genetics analysis using maximum likelihood, evolutionary distance, and maximum parsimony methods. Mol Biol Evol 28:2731–2739

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Hillis DM (1987) Molecular versus morphological approaches to systematics. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 18:23–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Mower JP, Stefanović S, Hao W, Gummow JS, Jain K, Ahmed D, Palmer JD (2010) Horizontal acquisition of multiple mitochondrial genes from a parasitic plant followed by gene conversion with host mitochondrial genes. BMC Biol 8:150

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Khon Kaen University, 123 Mitraphap Highway, Khon Kaen, 40002, Thailand

    Nantiya Kwanda, Runglawan Sudmoon & Arunrat Chaveerach

  2. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ramkhamhaeng University, Bangkok, Thailand

    Kowit Noikotr

  3. Faculty of Environment and Resource Studies, Mahasarakham University, Mahasarakham, Thailand

    Tawatchai Tanee

Authors
  1. Nantiya Kwanda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kowit Noikotr
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Runglawan Sudmoon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Tawatchai Tanee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Arunrat Chaveerach
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Arunrat Chaveerach.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kwanda, N., Noikotr, K., Sudmoon, R. et al. Medicinal parasitic plants on diverse hosts with their usages and barcodes. J Nat Med 67, 438–445 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11418-012-0695-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11418-012-0695-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation