Study of secondary metabolites, microRNAs, and antidiabetic properties from the medicinal plant Murraya koenigii

Abstract

Murraya koenigii is a medicinal plant that grows in Asia and is distributed throughout India; however, it can also grow in Mexico. This plant is one of the few species that produce carbazole alkaloids which are therapeutic compounds with great commercial value. Traditionally, this plant is used to treat gastrointestinal disorders, inflammation, and diabetes, among other ailments. The plant's pharmacological properties are mainly attributed to its secondary metabolites, whose production depends mostly on its grown environmental conditions. Currently, only a few compounds have been identified; nevertheless, there is a lack of a secondary metabolites profile of the grown-in-Mexico M. koenigii. Additionally, the production of these compounds can be regulated post-transcriptionally by small non-coding RNA molecules called microRNAs (miRNAs). However, in the literature, there is no information available about its miRNA profile nor its implications in the synthesis of secondary metabolites. Additionally, diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder that affects more than 10 % of the world population and there is an urgent need for alternative treatments such as medicinal plants. Therefore, this project aimed to annotate the secondary metabolites profile of grown-in-Mexico M. koenigii and to reveal the microRNAs involved in their synthesis as well as to evaluate its in vivo antidiabetic potential.

In the present study, 268 new compounds were tentatively identified from the methanolic extract of the leaves of grown-in-Mexico M. koenigii. Moreover, 142 conserved and 7 novel miRNAs were found, along with their target enzyme genes implicated in the terpenoid backbone and the flavonoid biosynthesis pathways. Also, this research project revealed that there was no significant decrease in blood glucose in M. koenigii-treated diabetic groups compared to the control group, but there was a decreasing tendency. Finally, miRNAs knowledge could improve the genetic engineering research to produce pharmaceutic and commercial secondary metabolites from M. koenigii, and further studies are suggested to continue investigating and validating its phytochemical content and its pharmacological properties.