FEATURED Book Chapter Detail

Plant Tissue and Cell Culture: A Powerful Tool for Enhanced Production of Targeted Active Compounds in Medicinal Plants

Ghulam Zahara Jahangir^1*, Asma Shahzad², Farah Naz³, Aisha Younas³, Shakira Aslam¹, Tayyaba Anjum¹, Namra Ahmad¹, Maham Rashid¹ 

¹Centre for Applied Molecular Biology (CAMB), University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

²Lahore College for Women University (LCWU), Lahore, Pakistan

³Department of Biological Sciences, Superior University, Lahore, Pakistan

*For Correspondence

zahra.camb@pu.edu.pk

Medicinal plants are core therapeutic essentials in various human health problems. Interest in the usage of plants and plant-based products has resurfaced around the globe as more people become conscious of the health threats with the indiscriminate use of antibiotics. Tissue culturing enables the preservation of most of the medicinal plant’s genetic material which is at the risk of getting endangered. During the last couple of years, the emerging pharmacological significance of secondary metabolites has led to a high interest in secondary metabolism, predominantly in the potential for the development, through tissue culture technologies, of bioactive plant metabolites. This study compiles the methods used for the synthesis of secondary metabolites like taxols, anthocyanin, colchicine, ginkgolides, L-Dopa, and diosgenin from various medicinal plants using plant tissue culture techniques are discussed briefly. Advances in the plant tissue culture techniques and media formulations that are essential for the progression of medicinal plants and their useful metabolites have also been reviewed. 

Keywords

Medicinal Plants, Secondary Metabolites, Tissue Culturing Techniques, Taxols, L-DOPA, Diosgenin, Colchicine, Anthocyanin, Gankgolides