Micropropagation and antimicrobial activity of Operculina turpethum (syn. Ipomoea turpethum ), an endangered medicinal plant

Operculina turpethum (syn. Ipomoea turpethum) - a plant in the morning glory family is an endangered medicinal plant of Bangladesh and its neighboring countries. An efficient micropropagation protocol was established for this plant through nodal segment culture as well as antimicrobial activity of the leaves was also evaluated. For micropropagation, nodal segments with axillary buds of field grown plants were surface sterilized in 0.1% HgCl2 for 8 min. Rapid shoot bud proliferation (85.33%) along with a maximum of 14 shoots in each bud was observed when cultured in Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 1.0 mg l(-1) BAP. Proper elongation (5-6 cm) of the primarily induced shoots was achieved by subculturing in 0.5 mg l(-1) GA(3) plus 0.1 mg l(-1) Kin. Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) at a concentration of 1.0 mg l(-1) was found most effective for root development. Well rooted plantlets were successfully acclimatized in the soil up to maturity. In terms of antibacterial properties petroleum ether and ethanol extracts of leaves showed potential antimicrobial properties against several human pathogenic bacteria with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranged from 0.13-0.75 mg ml(-1).