ObjectivesAbrus precatorius (AP) is a medicinal plant seldomly studied for its beneficial effects and as such significant gap exists in understanding the basis by which AP leaf bioactives (APLBs) elicit beneficial effects against diabetes mellitus (DM) type-1. MethodsWe estimated DM type-1 related parameters - total protein (TP), direct bilirubin (DB), urea, creatinine, alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and serum glucose (SG) after treatment with methanol extracts of AP leaves (APMLE) for 21 days followed by histopathological analysis of kidney and liver sections. APLBs were collected from GCMS fractions, database and literature searches and common targets were cross-intersected with annotated DM type-1 genes from experimental GSE14503 microarray dataset and genecard database. Overlapping differentially expressed genes were collected, their protein-protein interaction network was constructed and analyzed using various bioinformatics tools: Enrichr, SRplot, GSEA, Cytoscape, PyRx, and Discovery Studio to provide insight into the potential molecular basis of APLBs in DM-type-1.Results 15 compounds were identified from GCMS analysis of APMLE. Antidiabetic potential of APMLE was observed with significant (p <0.05) normalization of SG, TP, DB, ALT, AST, ALP, urea & creatinine while hepatorenal photomicrographs indicated moderate safety of use. Erucic acid, oleic acid, phytol and stigmasterol interact with 25 type-1 DM biomarkers revealed to be enriched in lipid and prostaglandin metabolic processes, neuroactive ligand receptor interaction, PPAR signaling pathway, diabetic cardiomyopathy, and cAMP signaling pathway. Furthermore, PPARalpha (peroxisome proliferator-activated alpha) and SCD (stearoyl-coenzyme A desaturase) were revealed as core biotargets interacting with APLBs via hydrogen bond, hydrophobic interaction and van der Waals forces from docking study. ConclusionThis study demonstrated the potency of APLBs in vivo against type-1 DM. The potential basis of action has been studied from computational perspective. Future interests may provide additional experimental data into mechanisms by which APLBs elicit this remarkable ability.

The medicinal plant Abrus precatorius L. was traditionally used in Siddha and Ayurvedic systems of medicine in India. The Indian centre of origin holds vast variability for its seed color. The objective of this study was to assess the total monomeric anthocyanin, flavonol, antioxidative potential, protein content and ash content among the accessions. A total of 99 accessions conserved in the Indian National Genebank were used in this study. The method used for the estimation of total monomeric anthocyanin, flavonol, antioxidative potential, protein content and ash content was pH differential method, Oomah method, Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Potential, Dumas method and gravimetric method respectively. The completely black colored accession was recorded with highest total monomeric anthocyanin (51.95 mg / 100 g of cyanidin 3-glucoside equivalent) and flavonol content (66.41 mg/g of quercetin equivalent). Red + black colored accessions have recorded the maximum value with respect to antioxidants (14.18 mg/g of gallic acid equivalent). Highest amount of protein content was found in a completely white colored accession (20.67%) and maximum ash content was recorded in red + black seed colored accession (4.01%). The promising accessions identified can be used by pharmaceutical companies in drug development and in curing degenerative diseases.