Plant Tissue Culture : Plant tissue culture studies in two medicinally important members of family Solanaceae

This book presents the biotechnological approaches for the improvement of medicinal plants and production of medicinally active principles in vitro. Most of the members of family Solanaceae are medicinally important and being utilized in traditional medicines since centuries. The uncontrolled exploitation of these plants forced many of them to vanish from the earth crust and number of them are critically endangered. This situation demands a very strong solution for the conservation of these medicinal plants. Plant tissue culture technology offers a desired solution for the conservation of economically and ecologically important plants. Withania somnifera and Solanum surattense are the two important medicinal plants of family solanaceae, which are extensively used in Ayurvedic preparations and are characterized by the presence of many secondary metabolites of medicinal significance. Regeneration of complete plantlets of Withania somnifera and Solanum surattense using different plant tissue culture techniques has been discussed. Induction and establishment of hairy roots using Agrobacterium rhizogenes mediated transformation from both these plants has also been discussed.