Variability in Mucuna pruriens L. germplasm for L-Dopa, an anti parkinsonian agent

Mucuna pruriens L. (Fabaceae) is a popular Indian medicinal plant, which has long been used in traditional Ayurvedic system of Indian medicine for diseases including parkinsonism. The seeds of M. pruriens contain 3,4-dihydroxyphenyl-L-alanine (L-dopa) as a major constituent, an intermediate precursor of the neurotransmitter dopamine. L-dopa extracted from seeds of Mucuna is more effective as drug than the synthetic counterpart. The plant is widely distributed throughout the India and in other parts of the tropics including Central and South America. The present study was aimed to screen thirty-eight accessions of Mucuna germplasm collected from different geographical regions of India for L-dopa content, an effective drug used for Parkinson's disease. The L-dopa content in seeds of M. pruriens was quantitatively analyzed by high performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) at 280 nm wavelength. Results indicated wide variability among thirty-eight accessions of M. pruriens for seed characters like seed colour, size and shape. The L-dopa content in seeds of M. pruriens ranged between 3.29 and 5.44 % (on dry weight basis) among different germplasm collections augmented from various parts of India. Promising accessions identified having high L-dopa content were IC551549 (5.44 %), IC551514 (5.41 %), IC331536 (5.40 %), IC552857 (5.36 %), IC385844 (5.32 %) and IC439197 (5.32 %). Due to the economic importance of the drug, these promising M. pruriens accessions can be exploited for large scale cultivation for their pharmacological important constituents mainly L-dopa content.