Inventorization, molecular identification and characterization of Garcinia species from northeast India for isolation of polyisoprenylated benzophenones as taxol mimics

Taxol is one of the essential medicines listed by the World Health Organization as a cytotoxic drug that kills cancer cells. Due to the slow growing nature of the Taxus plant, the drug is very expensive to manufacturer and thus not sustainable. Polyisoprenylated benzophenones (PIB) are the class of secondary metabolites which exhibited taxol mimic properties in both in vitro and in vivo assays. The genus Garcinia has been reported to be the main source of PIB. We propose to do extensive survey and characterize Garcinia species of northeast India for PIB compounds as taxol mimic. First component of this project aims to do extensive field survey for exploration of Garcinia species in Northeast India and its molecular identification through DNA barcoding. Second component aims to isolate PIB compound followed by in vitro and in vivo assay on human malignant cell lines for validation of anticancer properties.