Breeding Capsicum chinense Lines with High Levels of Capsaicinoids and Capsinoids in the Fruit

Capsaicinoids, which cause a hot sensation when eaten, are uniquely present in pepper (Capsicum sp.) and are biosynthesized by combining vanillyl amine with branched fatty acids. A mutation in the gene encoding putative aminotransferase (pAMT)—the enzyme that normally biosynthesizes the capsaicinoid precursor vanillyl amine—leads instead to the biosynthesis of vanillyl alcohol, which combines with branched fatty acids to form capsinoids. Here, we report a method for increasing the capsaicinoid and capsinoid contents using quantitative trait locus (QTL) alleles involved in capsaicinoid biosynthesis in the pericarps of extremely spicy peppers. QTLs for capsinoid contents were detected on chromosome 6 and 10 using an F2 population from ‘SNU11–001’ and ‘Bhut Jolokia (BJ)’ (‘SJ’). ‘SNU11–001’ contains high capsinoid contents and ‘BJ’ contains high capsaicinoid contents in both the placenta and pericarp. These QTLs overlapped QTL regions associated with pungency in the pericarp. ‘BJ’ was crossed also with ‘Habanero’ (‘HB’), which contains capsaicinoids mainly in the placenta, and the resulting (‘HJ’) F2 and F3 offspring with ‘BJ’ genotypes were selected based on QTL markers and the pericarp pungency phenotype. Similarly, F2 and F3 offspring with high capsinoid contents in the pericarp were selected in ‘SJ’ with reference to ‘BJ’ genotypes at the QTLs. Through continuous self-pollination, ‘SJ’ and ‘BJ’ lines with high capsinoid and capsaicinoid contents, respectively, in both the placenta and pericarp were developed. This study is the first to show that lines containing high levels of capsinoids and capsaicinoids can be bred using pericarp capsaicinoid biosynthesis genes.

A Study On The Effect of Different Elicitors On Capsaicin Accumulation in Cell Suspension Cultures of Capsicum Assamicum (Bhut Jolokia)

Elicitation of cell suspension cultures of Capsicum assamicum (Bhut Jolokia) for enhancement of capsaicin content was tried using different elicitors such as cellulase, vanillin, methyl jasmonate, salicylic acid and sinapic acid in different concentrations for 24, 48 and 72 hours. Cell suspension culture was established in B5 media supplemented with 3.5 mM 2,4-D (2,4-diphenoxyacetic acid) and 1.1 mM Kin and elicitors were introduced at the end of exponential phase. All the elicitors, except methyl jasmonate, led to significant increase in production of capsaicin. Sinapic acid, when added in 22 µM concentration and incubated for 24 hours, led to highest capsaicin accumulation of 0.5% (5068 µg/g) which was highest among all the treatments.

Phytochemical analysis, Antimicrobial and Antioxidant assay of Bhut Jolokia pepper

The presented work represents phytochemical analysis, Antioxidant assay and Antimicrobial activity of Bhut jolokia pepper (Capsicum chinense Jacq) extracted by ethanol as solvent. The ethanolic extract of Bhut jolokia pepper showed the presence of terpenoids, steroids, saponins and flavonoids. Antimicrobial assay was done with varying concentration (250-1000µg/ml) of pepper extract using tetracycline as control by well diffusion method, the extract at 750µg/ml shown best inhibition zone and Staphylococcus aureus showed the highest zone of inhibition at all concentration compared to other bacteria species with maximum zone of inhibition of 27mm. The DPPH scavenging assay for antioxidant activity at 517nm showed positive activity for scavenging, scavenging increased with the concentration of extract. Thus, Bhut jolokia could be effective in treating diseases caused by Staphylococcus aureus from antimicrobial assay result.

Development of chloroplast microsatellite markers in Capsicum: Insight into evolution of Bhut Jolokia - a clad of ghost chilli landraces

In the present study, a total of 27 chloroplast specific SSRs (CpSSR) have been identified in the chloroplast genome of Capsicum annum L. The frequency of the SSRs was about one in 5.7 kb of the chloroplast genome. Out of 27 SSRs, 26 were mono-nucleotide repeats of A/T and one was a trinucleotide repeat (TTA). Further a set of seven markers were validated by genotyping 48 capsicum accessions comprising of cultivars from five different species and landraces of unknown identity. The seven SSR markers generated a total of 27 alleles among 48 samples used in this study. The size of the amplicons varied from 161 bp (CaCpM22 and 26) to 339 bp (CaCpM06). The polymorphic information content (PIC) value for the set of the primers used ranged from 0.11 to 0.48 with an average of 0.33. The number of alleles for markers ranged from three to six with an average of 3.28 alleles per marker. The phylogenetic analysis of the chilly accessions showed that the Bhut jolokia land race is clustered along with the C. frutescence indicating the it’s probable parentage. The chloroplast genome based SSR markers identified in the present study can be further used for the marker-assisted genomic studies

Supercritical fluid extraction of Bhut Jolokia oleoresin and its quality analysis

The present study focuses on the standardization of the supercritical fluid extraction of the Bhut Jolokia (Capsicum chinense) which is abundantly grown in the north eastern region of India. The effect of process parameters pressure (75–225 bar), temperature (40–60 °C) and time (30–90 min) of oleoresin extraction process was studied. The standardized condition to obtain maximum extraction of Bhut Jolokia oleoresin was found to be 207 bar, 60 °C and 73 min. The oleoresin extract was analyzed for its antimicrobial, antioxidant and total phenolics content. Four strains of bacteria namely Escherichia coli (ATCC -11,229), Bacillus subtilis (ATCC- 11,774), Salmonella typhimurium (ATCC- 14,028) and Staphylococcus aureus (12,600) were used for the antimicrobial assay. It was observed that the highest inhibition was seen against E. coli, moderate inhibition was seen against S.aureus and S. typhi and partial/no zone of inhibition was observed against B. subtilis. The extract of Bhut Jolokia oleoresin showed radical scavenging activity of 58.6 ± 3.86% and total phenolics content of 4250 ± 2.26 mg GAE/100 g sample indicating Bhut Jolokia oleoresin as a good antioxidant and is also a good source of phenolic compounds.

Case Report of Presumed (In)voluntary Capsaicin Intoxication Mimicking an Acute Abdomen

Background. The clinical features of a presumed capsaicin intoxication have not been reported so far. Case Presentation. A 27-year-old man took part in a qualifying for a competition in spicy food tolerance. During this qualifying, he swallowed 4 chili peppers type Bhut jolokia (about 1 million Scoville units) and other extremely spicy foods; the total amount of capsaicin ingested (roughly calculated retrospectively) accounted for at least 600 mg. After 2½ hours, the patient developed severe abdominal pain, which led to hospital admission. In contrast to the severe symptoms, clinical, laboratory, and imaging examinations (ultrasound and plain X-ray of the abdomen) did not reveal any significant abnormalities. Treatment with analgesics resulted in complete regression of the abdominal pain within 30 hours. Conclusions. The clinical picture in the view of pharmacological investigations on intestinal capsaicin infusions suggests that excessive doses of capsaicin can induce severe abdominal pain; the prolonged symptoms were probably due to the failure to vomit. Thus, a capsaicin intoxication must be considered in the differential diagnosis of an acute abdomen.