Indian scientists have
deciphered the entire genetic make-up of Tulsi, a herb widely used for
therapeutic purposes. The genome map will help in making new medicines using
the plant.
A
multi-institutional team led by Sowdhamini Ramanathan from the National Centre
of Biological Science, Bengaluru revisited the age-old knowledge of the plant
and its medicinal effects in their laboratories.
The plant
synthesises a wide range of bioactive compounds, known for their
anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-pyretic and anti-cancer properties.
These
compounds are metabolites, compounds that are a by-product of plant metabolism,
typically used for plant self-defence. These metabolites are very poorly understood
because of lack of genomic information.
Sowdhamini
and team have produced the first draft genome of O. tenuiflorum Krishna
subtype, which is an important step in understanding and identifying the genes
responsible for production of metabolites with medicinal properties.
“The
sequence reveals the interesting pathways used by Tulsi to make ursolic acid, a
medically important compound. If one could now use modern synthetic biology
techniques to synthesise ursolic acid, it would be of great benefit,” said S.
Ramaswamy, one of the researchers.
“This is
the first report of draft genome sequencing of a plant species from NCBS and we
hope to do more,” added Sowdhamini.
