Characteristics of the Purple Pigment Compound in Halophytic Plant, Suaeda japonica

내염성 식물 칠면초 (Suaeda japonica )가 갖는 자색 색소의 특징

As one of the steps toward understanding how the plant is well adapted to strongly saline habitats, the purple pigment compound that is accumulated in Suaeda japonica was extracted and characterized. The extracted pigment compound exhibited typical characteristics of betacyanin that were represented by water solubility, pH- and temperature-dependent color changes, sensitivity to light, UV-Vis spectra, and gel electrophoretic migration pattern. LC-MS of the extracted pigment compound showed the presence of two major protonated molecular ions ($[M+H]^+$) at m/z 651.1 and m/z 827.1. According to the DPPH assay, it was found to have an antioxidant activity that is linearly increased in proportion to the reaction time for up to 30 min, and the activity was comparable to that of control BHA at 9.0 mg/ml. The cytotoxic activity against several tumor cell lines was also examined following the MTT assay. The significant growth inhibitory effect was observed on two tumor cell lines, SW-156 (human kidney carcinoma) and HEC-1B (human endometrial adenocarcinoma). Probably, the pigment compound may function as an osmolyte to uphold halotolerant physiological processes in saline environment.