Scutellaria: Biotechnology, phytochemistry and its potential as a commercial medicinal crop

Abstract

Plants of the genus Scutellaria (family Lamiaceae) are distributed globally and they are integral part of Eastern as well as American traditional medicine. The genus Scutellaria, commonly referred to as skullcap, is considered as a North American perennial plant. At present this genus is represented by 350-360 species. Many species are rare, threatened, or endangered. Habitat destruction, urbanization, and poor seed set are a few reasons behind the diminishing population of many skullcaps. Many skullcap species have showy, beautiful blooms with great potential as ornamental plants. Skullcaps are used in alternative medicine as antiinflammatory, antispasmodic, emmenagogue, nervine, sedative, and strong tonic. More than 295 compounds have been isolated from Scutellaria species and the majority of the compounds are flavonoids and diterpenes. We present a review of research carried out by various groups, covering aspects of phytochemical screening, biomedical studies, conservation, plant biotechnology, and development of Scutellaria as a premium crop. We have developed a germplasm collection at Fort Valley State University that includes 19 species. These species are maintained in the greenhouse and through micropropagation in the lab. Biotechnology presents significant advances for the use of Scutellaria. We will review progress in micropropagation, transformation for desired gene transfer, and hairy root induction, extraction, and HPLC analysis of targeted flavonoids, and preclinical and clinical studies on select extracts and isolated flavonoids using various cancer models.