Elite genotype selection through antioxidant and antimicrobial activities, in vitro multiplication with meta-Topolin, genetic fidelity assessment via SCoT markers and cytological study, and chemo-profiling of selected elite genotype of Solanum sisymbriifolium Lam.: an underutilized alternative for nutrition and medicine.

Nowadays, the increasing world population and antibiotic resistance have become globally concerning issues. Solanum sisymbriifolium Lam. is an underexploited plant with multipurpose therapeutic and culinary uses and can be utilized as an alternative source of food and medicine. In this study, an elite genotype selection program of S. sisymbriifolium (SS) has been conducted with ten different collections from five agro-geochemical regions of West Bengal, India, based on the antioxidant properties and antimicrobial activity against multi-drug-resistant (MDR) clinical isolates. The SS 5 genotype has shown the best antioxidant activity in DPPH (299.09 μg/ml), ABTS (140.84 μg/ml), and FRAP (10.63 mg ascorbic acid equivalent/g DW) assays and simultaneously performed best against the MDR pathogenic bacteria, producing maximum zone of inhibition (19.67 ± 0.33 mm) against Morganella morganii. Therefore, the SS 5 genotype was chosen as elite type, and mass propagated in in vitro condition. Best shoot multiplication (14.06 ± 0.11) was observed in MS media containing 0.2 mg/l thidiazuron and 0.2 mg/l meta-Topolin. The ex vitro established plants were found to be cytogenetically stable with mother plant following assessment using start codon targeted (SCoT) markers and cytological study (2n = 24). The ex vitro plants were also analyzed for seven different phenolic acids (03.30-121.75 µg/g DW) and four vitamin B (04.38-22.29 mg/100 g FW) contents and found to be phytochemically stable with mother plant as well. Thus, this study validates the pharmacological and nutritional importance of this underutilized species S. sisymbriifolium, and the plant can be commercially exploited using the reproducible protocols provided in this study.