Research On Molecular Biology Of Huperziaceae Medicinal Plants

Huperziaceae is an ancient group of plants that has a worldwide distribution. Amajority of Huperziaceae plants occur either as epiphytes in low- to mid-altitudemontane rain forests of South America, Africa, and South-East Asia, or as grounddwellers in opens habitats of the upper montane Neotropical rain forests andhigh-altitude alpine vegetation of the mountains of these regions. This group of plantsis frequently used in Chinese herbal medicines for the treatment of Alzheimer'sdisease (AD), myasthenia gravis (MG), fever, and pneumonia. Huperzine A (hup-A) isone of the primary ingredients that are extracted from species of the Huperziaceaefamily, and it exhibits many pharmacological activities such as improved memory inthe elderly, inhibition of acetylcholinesterase activity, and antidepressive activity.Hup-A has been extensively studied for its potential in treating AD. It is abundant inHuperziaceae species and has been demonstrated to be a powerful selective inhibitorof acetylcholinesterase. It has attracted widespread attention because of its uniquepharmacological profile and low toxicity. Recently, the resource of Huperziaceaeplants has become depleted resulting in an extreme shortage of these plants. Scientificand other suitable approaches are necessary to prevent further depletion ofHuperziaceae plants. Several altematives have been tried to overcome the shortage ofthis resource. Plant tissue culture and cuttage propagation have been used to solve theproblem of the shortage of the Huperziaceae resource.According analysis base on chloroplast gene rbcL, rpL16, matK and psbA-trnHsequences data of Huperziaceae plants. The results were consistent with previousview of a major early dichotomy in Lycopodiaceae between Huperzia-Phylloglossumand a Lycopodium-Lycopodiella clade. Huperzia species and Phylegmariurus specieswere classed into different clade, which showed that there were two groups in Huperziaceae family in China. The results were consistent with Ching RC's viewpoint.About the section within genera, the topologies of phylogenetic trees showed thatHuperzia included Sect. Huperzia clade and Set. Huperzioides clade two major groupswith high bootstrap support. The results agreed with Zhang LB and Kong XX'sviewpoint about section taxonomy.The molecular genetic approach (rbcL, rpL16, marK and psbA-trnH intergenicspacers) provided a method for the identification and botanical classification ofmedicinal plants within a genus. In this study, we developed a novel reliablemolecular genetic method for the identification of Huperziaceae plants. We usedmolecular genetic methods to discriminate these species.We performed extraction protein and comparative two-dimensionalpolyacrylamide gel electrophoresis map in order to find the different protein spots.The results showed about 1338 spots in Huperzia miyoshiana and 1269 spots inHuperzia appressa 2-DE map. This protein spots fastened on between MW 15-75 andpH4-7. About 60 protein spots were identified. These results can serve as theadvantaged basic of the study of Hup-A and other secondary metabolites biosynthesis,and collate further information on methods for solving the shortage of these plants.