Gymnema/Gurmar (Gymnema sylvestre)

Gymnema sylvestre of the family Asclepiadaceae is one of the most important medicinal plants of the central eco-region. It is popularly known as Gurmar, which means “sugar killer”. Extract of leaves is reported to have tannins, gum, flavonoids, proteins and saponins. It has displayed a wide array of pharmacological activities. This study was aimed to investigate the antidiabetic and hypolipidemic effects of Gymnema sylvestre extract in experimentally induced diabetes in rats. Diabetes was produced in adult Wistar rats with single dose of streptozotocin (STZ) @ 60 mg/kg b.wt. intraperitoneally. After the confirmation of diabetes on 7th day (sugar >200 mg/dl), alcoholic and aqueous extracts of G. sylvestre (400 mg/kg) were administered orally to the experimental rats from 8th day and continued for 42 days thereafter. The antidiabetic and hypolipidemic activity was estimated by measuring blood glucose, lipid profile and histopathological examination of various tissues from all the groups. Administration of STZ resulted in a significant (p less than 0.01) increase in blood glucose and lipid profile and histopathological alterations in Diabetic control group as compared to healthy control group. Gymnema treatment demonstrated significant (p less than 0.01) antidiabetic effect indicated by restoration of blood glucose compared to STZ control group. The study concluded that extracts of Gymnema sylvestre improved the altered glucose and lipid profile in diabetic rats, suggesting that the Gymnema Sylvestre extracts exhibit the antidiabetic and hypolipidemic activity.

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Characterization of squalene synthase gene from Gymnema sylvestre R. Br.

Beni-Suef University Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences ◽

10.1186/s43088-020-00094-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Kuldeepsingh A. Kalariya ◽

Ram Prasnna Meena ◽

Lipi Poojara ◽

Deepa Shahi ◽

Sandip Patel

Keyword(s):

Dna Sequences ◽

Genomic Dna ◽

Competitive Inhibition ◽

Sequence Data ◽

Homology Model ◽

Squalene Synthase ◽

Gymnema Sylvestre ◽

Gardenia Jasminoides ◽

Ramachandran Plots ◽

Flanking Regions

Abstract Background Squalene synthase (SQS) is a rate-limiting enzyme necessary to produce pentacyclic triterpenes in plants. It is an important enzyme producing squalene molecules required to run steroidal and triterpenoid biosynthesis pathways working in competitive inhibition mode. Reports are available on information pertaining to SQS gene in several plants, but detailed information on SQS gene in Gymnema sylvestre R. Br. is not available. G. sylvestre is a priceless rare vine of central eco-region known for its medicinally important triterpenoids. Our work aims to characterize the GS-SQS gene in this high-value medicinal plant. Results Coding DNA sequences (CDS) with 1245 bp length representing GS-SQS gene predicted from transcriptome data in G. sylvestre was used for further characterization. The SWISS protein structure modeled for the GS-SQS amino acid sequence data had MolProbity Score of 1.44 and the Clash Score 3.86. The quality estimates and statistical score of Ramachandran plots analysis indicated that the homology model was reliable. For full-length amplification of the gene, primers designed from flanking regions of CDS encoding GS-SQS were used to get amplification against genomic DNA as template which resulted in approximately 6.2-kb sized single-band product. The sequencing of this product through NGS was carried out generating 2.32 Gb data and 3347 number of scaffolds with N50 value of 457 bp. These scaffolds were compared to identify similarity with other SQS genes as well as the GS-SQSs of the transcriptome. Scaffold_3347 representing the GS-SQS gene harbored two introns of 101 and 164 bp size. Both these intronic regions were validated by primers designed from adjoining outside regions of the introns on the scaffold representing GS-SQS gene. The amplification took place when the template was genomic DNA and failed when the template was cDNA confirmed the presence of two introns in GS-SQS gene in Gymnema sylvestre R. Br. Conclusion This study shows GS-SQS gene was very closely related to Coffea arabica and Gardenia jasminoides and this gene harbored two introns of 101 and 164 bp size.

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