Spectrophotometric method for quantitative estimation of DNA isolated from various parts of Catharanthus roseus Linn

Plants are attracting more attention among contemporary pharmacy scientists because some human diseases resulting from antibiotic resistance have gained worldwide concern. A number of methods are available and are being developed for the isolation of nucleic acids from plants. Catharanthus is in the Apocynaceae family, well known for being rich in alkaloids. Vinca alkaloids are used widely in the treatment of both childhood and adult cancers. Due to biochemical organization they target the á / â tubulin subunit of heterodimers, and they act to inhibit cell division by disrupting microtubule dynamics. The different parts of Vinca rosea were studied for their nucleic acid content by using spectrophotometric analysis. In order to measure DNA content of the Leaves, Roots and Flowers of Vinca, Spectrophotometry serves various advantages i.e non destructive and allows the sample to be recovered for further analysis or manipulation. Spectrophotometry uses the fact that there is a relationship between the absorption of ultraviolet light by DNA/RNA and its concentration in a sample. This article deals with a modern approaches to to develop a simple, efficient, reliable and cost-effective method for isolation and estimation of total genomic DNA from various parts of the plant.