In vitro micropropagation of medicinal plants by tissue culture

Abstract

Tissue culturing of medicinal plants is widely used to produce active compounds for herbal and pharmaceutical industries. Conservation of genetic material of many threatened medicinal plants also involves culturing techniques. This work reviews in vitro micropropagation techniques and gives examples of various commercially important medicinal plants. The effect of media formulations and culturing techniques on the growth and multiplication of medicinal plants; and on the production of secondary metabolites is also reviewed. Another method of obtaining secondary metabolites is biotransformation; some famous pharmaceuticals obtained by this method are discussed briefly.