Determination of proteins in Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench roots and rhizomes

Abstract

Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench) is one of the mostly used medical plants worldwide. Herb and roots of Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench are used in medicine for immunomodulatory activity(Fonsecaa et al, 2014; Dapasa et al, 2014) in the treatment and prevention of common cold, influenza and other respiratory tract infections (Hart et al, 2009). Chemical constituents of coneflower are responsible for pharmacologic effect of a plant. It contains flavonoids, caffeic acid, polysaccharides, essential oils, phenolic compounds, saponins, and glycoproteins (Bauer, 1999). There are lot of research papers published wherein coneflower plant constituents are analyzed and well characterized. Unfortunately, information about coneflower proteins and possible lectin content is vague. Aim of experiment: To extract and characterize size of protein particles in coneflower roots and rhizomes. Experiment tasks: 1. To extract and fractionate proteins from coneflower roots and rhizomes; 2. To quantify protein content in coneflower roots and rhizomes fractions; 3. To identify size of protein particles with polyacrylamide gel (PAGE) electrophoresis in coneflower roots and rhizomes fractions; Materials and methods: 1. 40 g of homogenized coneflower roots and rhizomes material (roots and rhizomes of Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench were purchased from Botanical Garden of Vytautas Magnus University) extracted in phosphate-buffer saline (PBS) with protease inhibitors and salted with ammonium sulphate at 4̊ C temperature; 2. Proteins fractionated according to size with AKTA Purifier system, using Superdex 200 10/300 GL column, eluent was phosphate buffer, prepared of 50mM sodium phosphate. [...]