Phytochemical and molecular analyses of some Coleus cultivars cultivated in Egypt

Abstract

Abstract Background Coleus (family Lamiaceae) is a popular garden ornamental plant known for its bright-colored foliage. The effective role of different plant growth regulators have been widely reported in plant cultivars (Singh A and Prasad SM Int. J. Sci. Eng. Appl. Sci. 2 (1): 1-10, (2016)). Kinetin has received great interest due to its richness in bioactive phytochemicals including polyphenolic compounds with its antioxidant activity. Molecular markers have been very helpful in enhancing our understanding of genome structure and function. In our study, we investigated the effect of three treatments of kinetin on the phytochemical contents of five Coleus cultivars and molecular characterization by ISSR markers. Results The studied cultivars of Coleus revealed adequate amounts of pigments chlorophyll a (Cha), chlorophyll b (Chb), and total carotenoids (Carot) as well as phytochemical ingredients including total carbohydrates (Carb), total phenolic (TP), total flavonoids (TF), and total tannins (TT). Finger paint cultivar (C5) revealed the highest values (0.266, 10.853, 11.648, and 6.722 mg/g) of Carb, TP, and TT, respectively, while the highest contents (11.814 and 11.648 mg/g) of TF were identified in Beckwhites gem species (C2) and finger paint cultivar (C5), respectively. Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) marker analysis was performed on the samples with 5 primer pairs. These bands were identified as 21 polymorphic and 18 monomorphic ones with 53.8% polymorphism. Ten unique bands were identified in the resulted ISSR profile. Conclusion These results suggested that the effect of kinetin treatments stimulates secondary metabolites production. Also, ISSR marker is helpful for possible distinguishing, identifying, characterizing, and selection processing of Coleus cultivars.