Biotechnological Approaches for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants

Medicinal and aromatic plants are the most important source of life saving drugs for the majority of the world's population. The biotechnological tools are important to select, multiply and conserve the critical genotypes of medicinal plants. In-vitro regeneration holds tremendous potential for the production of high-quality plant-based medicine. Cryopreservation is long-term conservation method in liquid nitrogen and provides an opportunity for conservation of endangered medicinal and aromatic plants. In-vitro production of secondary metabolites in plant cell suspension cultures has been reported from various medicinal plants. Bioreactors are the key step towards commercial production of secondary metabolites by plant biotechnology. Genetic transformation may be a powerful tool for enhancing the productivity of novel secondary metabolites; especially by Agrobacterium rhizogenes induced hairy roots. This book contains 29 chapters divided into three sections. Section 1: In vireo production of secondary metabolite Section 2 : In vitro propagation, genetic transformation and germplasm conservation Section 3: Conventional and molecular approach