Project description:The jaboticaba tree, Plinia trunciflora (O. Berg) Kausel, is popularly named "jabuticabeira" in Brazil and is used in folk medicine to treat diabetes and chronic inflammation of the tonsils, but studies evaluating the central effects of this species are limited. This study evaluated the antidepressant-like and antioxidant effects of P. trunciflora (PT) aqueous extract, in which five different anthocyanins were identified. PT showed significant ferric-reduction power and DPPH radical scavenging activity in vitro and reduced lipid peroxidation both in vitro and ex vivo. At the behavioural level, PT (400 and 800?mg/kg, i.p.) dose-dependently reduced immobility time in the tail suspension test in Swiss male mice. The identification of bioactive compounds accompanied by the in vitro and ex vivo antioxidant activity of PT suggests that these activities might be related to the antidepressant-like activity of P. trunciflora.
Project description:Plinia trunciflora is a Brazilian native fruit tree from the Myrtaceae family, also known as jaboticaba. This species has great potential by its fruit production. Due to the high content of essential oils in their leaves and of anthocyanins in the fruits, there is also an increasing interest by the pharmaceutical industry. Nevertheless, there are few studies focusing on its molecular biology and genetic characterization. We herein report the complete chloroplast (cp) genome of P. trunciflora using high-throughput sequencing and compare it to other previously sequenced Myrtaceae genomes. The cp genome of P. trunciflora is 159,512 bp in size, comprising inverted repeats of 26,414 bp and single-copy regions of 88,097 bp (LSC) and 18,587 bp (SSC). The genome contains 111 single-copy genes (77 protein-coding, 30 tRNA and four rRNA genes). Phylogenetic analysis using 57 cp protein-coding genes demonstrated that P. trunciflora, Eugenia uniflora and Acca sellowiana form a cluster with closer relationship to Syzygium cumini than with Eucalyptus. The complete cp sequence reported here can be used in evolutionary and population genetics studies, contributing to resolve the complex taxonomy of this species and fill the gap in genetic characterization.