State-of-the-art technologies for improving the quality of medicinal and aromatic plants

Abstract

As suggested by the reports of the World Health Organization, the ancient knowledge of medicinal and aromatic plants still forms the basis of traditional and indigenous health system in most developing countries. Almost 80% of the world population depends on plant secondary metabolites (such as alkaloids, phenolics, terpenes, etc.) as a safer alternative than synthetic medicines. Traditional breeding method falls short to meet the huge demands, and technological intervention like biotechnology-based breeding methods (BBBMs) becomes a necessity. Plant tissue culture techniques like Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer, bioreactor technology, etc. helps to improve yield to satisfactory levels, while methods like cryopreservation, micropropagation, synthetic seeds, etc. help in conservation and storage of the products. Formation of hairy roots from Agrobacterium rhizogenes transformation is one of the most exploited methods for mass production of secondary metabolites. Use of elicitors, improved media constitution, precursor feeding and engineering metabolic pathways helps to drive the flux towards our desired products. Emergence of medicinal plant genomics consortium and functional genomics technologies such as expressed sequence tag (EST) databases, microarrays and restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) allows transcriptome profiling and study of yet unexcavated wild plant resources. Biotechnological intervention is also used to impart stress tolerance and reduce the toxicity of the metabolic products. Specific gene editing techniques like CRISPR/Cas9, COSTREL, TALENs and polyploidy generation are also being applied to medicinal and aromatic plants for improved industrial strain generation. The present book chapter represents an overview of the latest technological advancements in improving the quality of the medicinal plants to exploit maximum benefit out of them in a sustainable way.