Publications by authors named "Meena Baleshwar"

Article Synopsis
  • Gymnema sylvestre is a medicinal plant in India known for its use in treating diabetes, but it currently lacks organized cultivation and is mostly harvested from the wild.
  • A study analyzed the genetic diversity of 118 accessions from 11 wild populations using DNA markers, revealing significant genetic variation at the species level but low variation among populations.
  • The findings suggested two main genetic clusters based on geographic regions, indicating that local environmental factors influence the genetic structure of G. sylvestre, which may help in future cultivation and conservation efforts.
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Genome sequence and identification of specific genes involved in the targeted secondary metabolite biosynthesis are two essential requirements for the improvement of any medicinal plant. (Arnott) Bhandari (family: Burseraceae), a medicinal plant native to Western India, produces a phytosterol guggulsterone, which is useful for treating atherosclerosis, arthritis, high cholesterol, acne, and obesity. For enhanced guggulsterone yield, key genes involved in its biosynthesis pathway need to be predicted, for which the genome sequence of the species is a pre-requisite.

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A simple, rapid, sensitive, and reliable ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-hybrid linear ion trap triple quadrupole mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for simultaneous determination of 10 bioactive compounds in stem bark of grown in high altitude of Himalaya, India. The objective of the study is to develop and validate ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-hybrid linear ion trap triple quadrupole mass spectrometry for investigation of geographical variations of triterpenoids, phenolics, and flavonoids contents in stem bark of . The validated method was successfully applied to investigate geographical variations of triterpenoids, phenolics, and flavonoids in stem bark of .

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is an important medicinal plant species of Indian Himalayan Region (IHR). Genetic variability and population genetic structure of sampled from IHR was studied using two single primer amplification reaction (SPAR) methods (DAMD: Directed Amplification of Minisatellite region DNA; ISSR: Inter Simple Sequence Repeats). To provide a reasonable scientific basis for management and conservation of populations in IHR, genetic diversity analysis of 11 populations with 24 SPAR markers (15 ISSR and 9 DAMD) revealed significantly high level of (90.

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Sapindus emarginatus Vahl (Sapindaceae) also known as 'Indian Soap nut' is significantly important for saponin content in its fruits. However, its current population in India is heavily fragmented due to a lack of sustainable harvesting practices. Moreover, changing climatic regimes may further limit its distribution and possibly compromise the survival of the species in nature.

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Studies on the genetic diversity and structure in endangered and threatened species are of utmost importance to design and promote effective conservation and management programs. , an endemic and threatened species growing naturally in arid and semi-arid regions of north western India, was investigated to estimate genetic variability and population structure using inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) and directed amplification of mini-satellite DNA (DAMD) markers. Twenty-five (ISSR 15; DAMD 10) markers produced 449 fragments, of which 382 were polymorphic in nature, revealing 84.

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Bergenia species are important medicinal plants used in indigenous systems of medicine for their antilithiatic and diuretic properties. An ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to hybrid linear ion trap triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QqQLIT-MS/MS) method has been developed and validated for the estimation of quantitative variation of eight major bioactive phenolics in the rhizomes (150 samples) of four species of this herb, Bergenia (B. ciliata, B.

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The plastid genome regions of two intergenic spacers, psbA-trnH and trnL-trnF, were sequenced to study the nucleotide diversity and phylogenetic relationships among Gladiolus cultivars. Nucleotide diversity of psbA-trnH region was higher than trnL-trnF region of chloroplast. We employed Bayesian, maximum parsimony (MP) and neighbour-joining (NJ) approaches for phylogenetic analysis of Gladiolus and related taxa using combined datasets from chloroplast genome.

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Article Synopsis
  • Betula utilis, or Himalayan silver birch, has a long history of use in traditional medicine for various health issues, including inflammation and cancer.
  • In the study, six fractions from Betula utilis Bark were tested for anticancer activity, with the ethyl acetate fraction showing significant effectiveness against several cancer cell lines.
  • The researchers isolated six triterpenes, including the novel compounds β-amyrin and ursolic acid, and found that ursolic acid specifically induces cell death in breast cancer cells while sparing non-cancerous cells, highlighting its potential as a targeted cancer therapy.
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The rhizome of Hedychium spicatum has been widely used in traditional medicines. The present study deals with the evaluation of the cytotoxic potential of rhizome essential oils from four different regions of the Western Himalaya (India) along with comparative correlation analysis to characterise the bioactive cytotoxic component. The essential oils were coded as MHS-1, MHS-2, MHS-3 and MHS-4, and characterised using GC-FID and GC-MS.

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Sapindus emarginatus is an economically important tropical tree species sparsely distributed in different geographical provinces like Gangetic Plains, Western Ghats, and Deccan Plateau in India. In the present paper estimation of genetic variability within and among 41 accessions representing five populations was carried out using 3 single primer amplification reaction (SPAR) methods viz. RAPD, DAMD and ISSR.

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A hydroalcoholic (50%) extract of Emblica officinalis (fruit) (EO-50) reduced the severity of hepatic fibrosis induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) and thioacetamide (TAA). Improved liver function was observed by measuring the levels of aspartate aminotransaminase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and bilirubin in serum. Hepatic parameters monitored were the levels of glutathione (GSH), lipid peroxidation (LPO) and hydroxyproline and the activities of catalase, glutathione peroxidase (GPx), Na+,K+-ATPase and cytochrome P450 (CYP 450 2E1) (aniline hydroxylation).

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Fresh aerial parts of Angelica glauca, growing wild in Kashmir valley in higher Himalaya (Jammu and Kashmir, India), collected at flowering stage from different locations, on hydro-distillation provided a refreshing light pale coloured essential oil with characteristic floral woody flavour. The oil was found to be a complex mixture of mono- and sesquiterpenes and 34 compounds accounting for nearly 97.4% of the oil were characterized with the help of capillary GC, GC-MS, and NMR.

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