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Abstract: The content of hypericins (hypericin and pseudohypericin), hyperforin, and flavonoids (rutin, hyperoside, quercitrin, and quercetin) and genetic profiles of eight accessions of Hypericum perforatum L., collected from different locations in India, have been determined. The secondary metabolite content was determined using a highly selective LC/MS/MS method. Pearson and Spearman''s correlation coefficient were used to investigate the relationships between the secondary metabolites and a significant positive correlation was found between hypericin and pseudohypericin contents. Genetic profiling was undertaken using the random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and single sequence repeat (SSR) methods. Among the 49 random primers used for the initial screening, only nine yielded polymorphic RAPD profiles. The SSR analysis shows that seven out of the 11 primers were polymorphic. There exists only a partial correlation between the chemical content and genetic profiling data among the accessions under study. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A fungal endophytic isolate, camptothecin, has been isolated from the inner bark of the plant Nothapodytes foetidafrom the Western coast of India. The fungus, which belongs to the family Phycomycetes, produced the anticancer drug lead compound camptothecin (1) when grown in a synthetic liquid medium (Sabouraud broth) under shake flask and bench scale fermentation conditions. Compound 1 was identified by means of chromatographic and spectroscopic methods. It was also compared with an authentic example for its biological activity against a number of human cancer cell lines. Isolation of an organism producing 1 and its fermentation may, in the future, provide an easily accessible source for the production of this anticancer drug precursor molecule.