Transformation of Lactuca sativa L. with rol C gene results in increased antioxidant potential and enhanced analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antidepressant activities in vivo.
Lettuce is an important edible crop which possesses various medicinal properties. In this study Lactuca sativa L. (cv Grand Rapids) was transformed by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation with rol C gene. Transgene integration and expression was confirmed through PCR and semiquantitative RT-PCR. The transformed extracts were evaluated for their in vitro antioxidant and in vivo analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antidepressant activities in rats. The transformed plants showed 53-98 % increase in total phenolic and 45-58 % increase in total flavonoid contents compared with untransformed plants. Results of total reducing power and total antioxidant capacity exhibited 90-118 and 61-75 % increase in transformed plants, respectively. In contrast to control, DPPH, lipid peroxidation and DNA protection assay showed up to 37, 20 and 50 % enhancement in transformed plants, respectively. The extracts showed similar but significant enhancement behavior in hot plate analgesic and carrageenan-induced hind paw edema test. The transformed extracts showed 72.1 and 78.5 % increase for analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities, respectively. The transformants of rol C gene exhibited prominent antidepressant activity with 64-73 % increase compared with untransformed plants. In conclusion, the present work suggests that transformation with rol C gene can be used to generate lettuce with enhanced medicinally important properties, such as antioxidant, analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antidepressant potential.
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Gujrat, Gujrat, 50700, Pakistan.
Hammad
H
Ismail
Department of Bioinformatics and Biosciences, Capital University of Science and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Erum
E
Dilshad
Department of Biochemistry, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, 45320, Pakistan.
Mohammad Tahir
MT
Waheed
Department of Biochemistry, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, 45320, Pakistan.
Moniba
M
Sajid
Department of Botany, The University of Poonch Rawalakot, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan.
Waqas Khan
WK
Kayani
Department of Biochemistry, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, 45320, Pakistan. bushramirza@qau.edu.pk.
Bushra
B
Mirza
Agrobacterium tumefaciens; Analgesic; Anti-inflammatory; Antidepressant; Antioxidants; Lactuca sativa; Semiquantitative PCR; rol genes