Study on Cytotoxicity and Chemical Profiling of Hexagonia tenuis (Hook.) Fr., a Potential Bracket Fungus (Polyporaceae)

Author(s): S. Aneesh* and J. E. Thoppil

Abstract: Biodiversity richness forms a stepping stone to medicinal researches leading to drug development. Number of plants, bacteria and fungi play an important role in traditional medicine. Hexagonia tenuis (Hook.) Fr., is a bracket fungus that belongs to the family Polyporaceae. Among the 16 species of Hexagonia, H. tenuis is mainly used for the purification, characterisation and synthesis of a thermostable enzyme called laccase. The present study aims to reveal the potential biochemical components present in H. tenuis using GC-MS analysis and to study the cytotoxic efficacy using Allium cepa root tip assay. Due to the presence of some potential chemicals such as sterols, terpenoids etc. that shows antitumor and antioxidant properties, H. tenuis has been tested for cytotoxicity using Allium cepa root tip assay. Cytotoxicity screening revealed the existence of different types of chromosomal aberrations which may form a key to further studies in animal assays also.

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