Development of informative genic SSR markers for genetic diversity analysis of Picrorhiza kurroa

Isolation and HPLC assisted quantification of two iridoid glycoside compounds and molecular DNA fingerprinting in critically endangered medicinal Picrorhiza kurroa Royle ex Benth: implications for conservation

“…The current needs are largely met by an indiscriminate collection of medicinal plant species from their natural habitats. Harvesting of medicinal plants' germplasm from the wild runs to hundreds of tons of the collected material annually Kumar et al 2016;Shitiz et al 2015;Singh and Sharma 2020). This over-exploitation poses a grave threat to many important medicinal plant species, necessitating an urgent development of strategies, for their effective use and conservation.…”

“…Many ayurvedic hepato-protective drug preparations made of Picrorhiza extracts, namely Katuki, Picroliv, Livocare, Livomap, Livplus, Livomin etc. that are commercially available in the market contain picroside active principles P-I and P-II in 1:1.5 proportions (Bhat et al 2013;Kumar 2019;Singh and Sharma 2020). Picrorhiza entails an approximate global annual demand of 500 tons against a supply of 375 tons, out of which India contributes 75 tons/ year.…”

“…P. kurroa is now listed in the negative lists of exports of Govt. of India (Mehra et al 2017;Barik et al 2018;Kumar 2019;Singh and Sharma 2020) with legal restrictions being levied on its collection from the wild (Kumar et al 2017). This has resulted in illegal collections and adulteration of picrosides P-I and P-II.…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, these markers have not, so far, been used in P. kurroa diversity assessment. A few studies have rather used SSR DNA markers (Katoch et al 2013;Shitiz et al 2017;Singh and Sharma 2020) for genetic analysis in P. kurroa. Likewise, HPLC-based quantitation of useful phytochemical compounds from roots and rhizomes of P. kurroa has been done to identify high yielding elite genotypes (Katoch et al 2011(Katoch et al , 2013Thapliyal et al 2012;Shitiz et al 2015;Sultan et al 2016;Mehra et al 2017;Soni and Grover 2019;Singh and Sharma 2020).…”

“…A few studies have rather used SSR DNA markers (Katoch et al 2013;Shitiz et al 2017;Singh and Sharma 2020) for genetic analysis in P. kurroa. Likewise, HPLC-based quantitation of useful phytochemical compounds from roots and rhizomes of P. kurroa has been done to identify high yielding elite genotypes (Katoch et al 2011(Katoch et al , 2013Thapliyal et al 2012;Shitiz et al 2015;Sultan et al 2016;Mehra et al 2017;Soni and Grover 2019;Singh and Sharma 2020). These studies, though, have reported substantial genetic diversity among populations, but mostly, except Sultan et al (2016) are limited with the use of only a few populations, limited markers and a small sample size.…”