Biotechnological Approaches for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants : Conservation, Genetic Improvement and Utilization

For the majority of the world's population, medicinal and aromatic plants are the most important source of life-saving drugs. Biotechnological tools represent important resources for selecting, multiplying and conserving the critical genotypes of medicinal plants.

In this regard, in-vitro regeneration holds tremendous potential for the production of high-quality plant-based medicines, while cryopreservation - a long-term conservation method using liquid nitrogen - provides an opportunity to conserve endangered medicinal and aromatic plants. In-vitro production of secondary metabolites in plant cell suspension cultures has been reported for various medicinal plants, and bioreactors represent a key step toward the commercial production of secondary metabolites by means of plant biotechnology.

Addressing these key aspects, the book contains 29 chapters, divided into three sections.

Section 1: In-vitro production of secondary metabolites

Section 2: In-vitro propagation, genetic transformation and germplasm conservation

Section 3: Conventional and molecular approaches