Bioreactor Culture of Shoots and Somatic Embryos of Medicinal Plants for Production of Bioactive Compounds

Abstract

Plant cell and tissue culture technology has been considered as a powerful tool for the clonal production of medicinal plants. Plant tissue culture is an excellent alternative to traditional methods of plantation, as it offers a controlled supply of biochemicals independent of plant availability. In the past decade, tremendous progress has been made in this area, and its importance has rapidly increased because of increased need for medicinal plant substances as sources of medicine and health food ingredients. Bioreactor culture system was applied for biomass and secondary metabolite production in medicinal plants. The bioreactor system has been also refined to enhance the efficiency in terms of productivity and for cost reduction. For an efficient large-scale bioreactor culture, a perpetual explant source that is stable and fast growing is important, and till now, five types of culture materials have been commonly used: (1) hairy roots, (2) adventitious roots, (3) suspension cells, (4) somatic embryos and (5) multiple shoots. Majority of studies have been conducted on the cell and root cultures for biomass and secondary metabolite production for commercial purposes. In comparison, only limited studies have been conducted on somatic embryo and multiple shoot cultures as sources of medicinal compounds, even though it has been found that intact plants contain more pharmaceutical chemicals than that of the cells or roots. This review provides an updated and comprehensive overview of somatic embryo and multiple shoot induction in various medicinal plants for the production of biomass and secondary compounds. Future perspectives of biomass and bioactive compound production via somatic embryogenesis and shoot culture have been also discussed.