Unraveling the biosynthetic pathway of active ingredients in diabetes curing tropical medicinal herb Madhunashini (Gymnema sylvestre) through transcriptome analysis. Gymnema sylvestre

Gymnemic acids are medicinal compounds derived from Gymnema sylvestre leaves. There is as huge demand of this plant for curing a most important life style disease diabetes mellitus. Madhunashini has a long history of use in India's Ayurvedic medicine. Indian first used Madhunashini to treat diabetes almost 2,000 years ago.Triterpene saponins from Madhunashini leaves belong to oleanane and dammarene classes. Oleanane saponins are gymnemic acids and gymnemasaponins, while dammarene saponins are gymnemasides. Understanding of the genes/molecular basis of gymnemic acid production will expedite the development of cultivars with high gymnemic acid content. At ICAR-DMAPR, Anand with funding from Gujarat State Biotechnology mission (GSBTM), Gandhinagar, Gujarat under the FAP Scheme this research work was carried to deciphering the biosynthetic pathway of gymnemic acid in Gymnema sylvestre.