PLANT TISSUE CULTURE METHODS IN SECONDARY METABOLITE PRODUCTION – A MINI REVIEW

Plants have always been used as a bio-cultural resource since traditional times, and the plants have always been regarded as the primary producer of natural products from various plant parts like barks, stem, leaves and roots. Plants can produce both primary and secondary metabolites and the use of plant tissue culture methods for the production of secondary metabolites is very much common. These secondary metabolites like alkaloids, phenolics and essential oils play very important role in plant metabolism, i.e. pathogen, insect defense, pigmentation, compounds against herbivores, regulation in germination, growth and development and can also be used by humans for the production of effective drugs and medicine. Different plant - based production methods like callus or suspension culture is being widely used for the production of secondary metabolites from plants. In the recent past, various new methods have been cited which tend to have a more important and renounced effect on the production of secondary metabolites. A knowledge about the recent methods like precursor feeding, elicitation treatment and many more has been reviewed here. Besides plant tissue culture, other technologies like Crispr Cas, nano technology and genome editing are also being used for secondary metabolites production. These plant tissue culture techniques are the best suitable environment friendly techniques that helps in the production of secondary metabolites when chemical synthesis is not feasible or when the natural supply is limited. Thus, an overall comparison is being done regarding the production of secondary metabolites their use and importance to mankind in this mini review.