The current status and future applications of hairy root cultures

Abstract

Hairy roots are produced when the soil phytopathogen, Agrobacterium rhizogenes, infects a host plant. Just like normal roots, the hairy roots have the capacity to absorb target elements and produce valuable phytochemicals. Hairy roots have thus been exploited in applications like large-scale production of secondary metabolites and recombinant proteins, upscaling in bioreactors, phytomining and phytoremediation. The hairy roots have industrial applications and are used as important research tool for elucidation of secondary metabolite biosynthetic pathways and also expression and function of key genes and regulatory elements. The status of research conducted till date on hairy roots of medicinally important plants with respect to secondary metabolites production, elicitation, recombinant proteins, genetic manipulation, phytoremediation and phytomining is reviewed in the present chapter.