Browsing by Author "Ranasinghe, R.A.S.N."

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    Development of a Protocol to Extract Quality DNA from Maha Aratta (Alpinia galangal (L.) Sw.) and Related Species
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2016) Ranasinghe, R.A.S.N.; Alwis, L.M.H.R.
    Alpinia galangal (L.) of family Zingiberaceae is one of the valuable medicinal plants in traditional medicine. There are some morphologically similar plants forAlpinia galangal. Therefore, improper identification creates issues in traditional medicine. DNA barcoding provides correct identification of plants at molecular level. Quality DNA extraction from Alpinia galangal and other related species is needed for DNA barcoding. Thus, this research focused on development of a protocol to extract quality DNA from Alpinia galangal and five related species. Alpinia galangal, Alpinia calcarata, Alpinia malaccensis, Hedychium flavescens, Hedychium coronarivam and Hedychium coccineum leaf samples were used to extract DNA. Extracted DNA was visualized using 0.8 % agarose gel and quantified using UV visible spectrophotometer. The protocol developed to extract genomic DNA of Alpinia galangal and other related species consisted with following steps. In developed promising protocol, the first leaves were sterilized, weighed and kept at -200 °C for one hour, cut in to small pieces, ground with liquid N2 and transferred in to preheated buffer 2x CTAB with pinch of PVP. f3 mercaptoethanol was added. Then chloroform: isoamyl alcohol (24:1) extraction and centrifugation at 13000 rpm were done. After two chloroform: isoamyl alcohol extractions, DNA were left to precipitate at -200 °C for one hour. Then, supernatant was removed and wash buffer was added. Samples were centrifuged at 13000 rpm, and pellets were taken and allowed to dry overnight. Finally, dry pellets were dissolved in TE buffer. This promising protocol confirms that extraction quality DNA is at considerable amount from Alpinia galangal and other related species. Pure quality DNA is having absorbance ratio in between 1.8 to 2. It showed that DNA extracted using this developed protocol can be used to extract quality DNA from Alpinia galangal and other related species. Concentrations of DNA extracted from six Alpinia species, was in range of 150 to 275 ng 1.11-1. It also revealed that this developed protocol can extract considerable amount of DNA from Alpinia galangal and other related species. Keywords: Alpinia galangal, Maha aratta, Identification, DNA barcoding, Adulteration
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    Effect of Stage of Maturity on Physicochemical Properties of Jackfruit (Artocaipus heterophyllus Lam.) Flesh
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2018) Ranasinghe, R.A.S.N.; Marapana, R.A.U.J.
    The objective of this study was to investigate the physicochemical changes in different maturity stages of jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.) flesh. Four maturity stages including immature stage 1 and 2, mature stage and fully ripen stage were selected from several jackfruit trees in Western Province, and tested for color (L*, a*, b*, c* and h° values), hardness, moisture content, total soluble solids, pH, titratable acidity, and vitamin C content. Spectrophotometric methods were used to analyze the total starch content and total sugar content (Anthrone method). The results showed that the color parameters varied significantly with maturity and the hardness decreased. The moisture content ranged between 70.94±2.09 89.21±2.29%. Total soluble solids increased with maturity, from 3.4±0.7% to 19.6±1.1%, corresponding to the increase of total sugar content from 3.055±0.967% to 25.498±0.495%. pH increased from the immature stage 1 (5.27±0.15) to the mature stage (6.25±0.06), then decreased during ripening up to 5.76±0.03. The variation of titratable acidity showed the opposite pattern of pH, with a range of 0.17±0.07 - 0.29±0.06%. The vitamin C content increased with maturity, ranging between 2.18±0.34 - 8.17±0.39 mg 100g-1. The total starch content increased with maturity from 1.597±0.295% to 19.533±0.354%, but then decreased with ripening up to 6.237±1.285%. The study concludes that there is a significant difference (p<0.05) in physicochemical traits at different maturity stages of jackfruit flesh.