Protocols for in vitro cultures and secondary metabolite analysis of aromatic and medicinal plants

Abstract

This book edited by S. Mohan Jain and Praveen K. Saxena covers a range of topics vital for the continued production of this essential but sometimes forgotten group of plants. Plants have always been an important part of traditional medicine; however, recently there has been increasing interest in and acceptance of using plant-based medicines. This has led to indiscriminate harvesting of wild species resulting in many species becoming endangered. This is a recurring theme in the book; micropropagation of endangered species, germplasm conservation, or using cell culture as an alternative to field cultivation for the aromatic and medicinal species. The book consists of 31 chapters, which are divided into five sections titled as follows: ‘Micropropagation and chemical analysis’, ‘Transgenic approaches’, ‘Molecular markers and microsatellites’, ‘Biotransformation, bioreactors and metabolomics’, and ‘Altered gravity and biotechnology’. The first section gives step-by-step procedures for propagating a number of medicinal plants that are endangered or hard to germinate. These chapters also cover the important bioactives found in the plants, the uses of these compounds, and protocols for biochemical analysis of the tissue-culture-derived plants. All chapters provide excellent notes on in vitro culture of the plants, the materials required, the media formulations, and the suppliers of the equipment or chemicals. The notes are in depth, with one example of field instructions reminding readers to ‘bring a raincoat’ and ‘understand risks from wild animals, spiders, insects or snakes’. The second section deals with transformation of medicinal and aromatic plants for the production of bioactive compounds and for basic research. Transformation via hairy root cultures, particle bombardment, and Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation methodologies are provided as well as procedures for analysis of the transformants. The third section of the book deals with molecular markers and microsatellites. These two chapters deal with identification of medicinal plants by microarrays with MLPA (multiplexed ligase-dependent probe amplication) and microsatellites. Identification of the correct plant species is extremely important for medicinal plants, as wrong classification of a plant can have deadly results. The fourth section of the book focuses on biotransformation, bioreactors and metabolomics. A number of medicinal plants are very hard to grow or are slow growing, and therefore field cultivation is not the most desired system for producing the medicinally important bioactives. Developing cell cultures from these medicinal and aromatic plants and extracting the pharmaceutical compound is an alternative method to field production. Bioreactors allow for continuous extraction of the important bioactives from plant cell suspensions. This section also gives information on metabolomic analysis of cell cultures, a newer approach to survey all the metabolites in a plant. The last section looks at biotechnology for anti-cancer compounds and plant secondary metabolism under altered plant environments (altered gravity). These chapters are reviews and do not contain protocols but discuss results. The book takes us from micropropagating endangered plants for return to field conditions all the way to growing plants for long-term colonization of space. The methodology does not stop at the tissue culture stage, but goes on to include biochemical analysis of the plants for the important bioactive compounds. One of the benefits of this book is to have both aspects within one volume. The book covers a number of plant families (annual flowering plants, woody species, berries, tubers, water plants, orchids and bryophytes) that are grown in China, India, North America and Europe. These plants have bioactives that are beneficial for treatment of a range of diseases and ailments. The chapters are easy to read and the protocols are easy to follow. All the necessary information is within the chapter. Most of the chapters have pictures depicting the equipment, tissue cultures at different stages, or in vitro derived plants. Unfortunately, the pictures are all in black and white. I feel that it would have been beneficial to have some of the pictures in colour, especially the ones illustrating callus or suspension cultures. In conclusion, I would recommend this book to researchers and students working in the area of plant tissue culture and biochemical analysis. This book would also be beneficial as a text book or laboratory manual in plant tissue culture courses.