Isoflavonoid biosynthesis in Pueraria mirifica leaves

Pueraria mirifica Airy Shaw & Suvatab. is a Thai indigenous herb with long-term consumption among Thai menopausal women for menopausal treatment. Researches in the tubers of this plant are mostly focused on their estrogenic potency and application to human health. The tubers are sources of active ingredients including the potent estrogenic miroestrol and deoxymiroestrol, and also isoflavonoids, however, the plant tubers show limited growth rate. Isoflavonoids are the abundance secondary metabolites in P. mirifica [1], [2] which play important roles in estrogenic effects [3] in animal assays, especially daidzein and genistein are potent anti-cancer, including breast cancer [4]. This group of chemicals is also needed for dietary supplement and cosmetic products. The plants produce a lot of leaves during their growth and development. In this study, the leaves were collected for 12 consecutive months and tubers were collected for every 4 month. The leaves were dried and extracted for isoflavonoids in the absence of chlorophyll for HPLC analysis together with the dried tubers. The analysis revealed that plant leaves contain significant amount of isoflavonoids. Thus it would initiate impact not only on isoflavonoid extraction industry but also commercialized products derived from these chemicals. In addition, proteomics approach is introduced in our study which resulted in finding some interesting appearance proteins in the plant tubers.

Acknowledgement: Thailand Research Fund DBG5180025.

References: 1. Cherdshewasart W, Subtang S, Dahlan W (2007)J Pharm Biomed Anal 43: 428–434.

2. Cherdshewasart W, Sriwatcharakul S (2007) Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 71: 2527–2533.

3. Cherdshewasart W, Sriwatcharakul S, Malaivijitnond S (2008) Maturitas 61: 350–357.

4. Cherdshewasart W, Kitsamai Y, Malaivijitnond S (2007)J Reprod Dev 53: 385–93.