Plant tissue culture - A potential source of medicinal compounds

The potential of plants-derived natural products in various industries is outlined. It is pointed out that there has been a considerable interest in investigating the great potential of plant tissue culture as an alternative to traditional agriculture for the industrial production of secondary metabolites. A representative list is given of compounds for which plant tissue culture technique has been developed so far. By taking the example of a few plant species, it has been shown that the yield in culture is either equal or more in the whole plants. It is suggested that efforts should be made to manipulate the genome through cell line selection and establishment of clones.