Medicinal and Aromatic Plants : INDIA

The Department of Biotechnology has taken up programmes on application of biotechnology for conservation, micro propagation and production of secondary metabolites; biotransformation of intermediates into pharmaceutically important products and genetic enhancement of medicinal and aromatic plants. Biotechnological interventions have also been made for standardization of traditional herbal formulations, process development of therapeutically active phyto constituents, isolation and characterization of new therapeutic agents, genomics and metabolic engineering in medicinal and aromatic plants. A network of five national gene banks has been set up by DBT for conservation of important medicinal and aromatic plants.

            Various immunomodulatory compounds from plants such as Piper longum, Azadirachta indica (anti-gastric hyperacidity and ulcer agent), Tinospora cordifolia, Momordica charantiaBerberis aristata have been identified. In vitro bioscreens have been developed for screening of plant extracts having anti-cancerous and anti-diabetic properties. A total of 19 potential bioactive lead molecules have been isolated and identified from medicinal plants used in Indian traditional system of medicine having anti-cell proliferative, anti-diabetic and immunomodulatotry properties using these cell based screens. In addition to above, about 10 compounds are at final stages of purification and structural confirmation. Lead medicinal plant extracts have been identified for further standardization and product development. A number of projects have been supported for development of standardized herbal products for cancer, diabetes, MDR tuberculosis, HIV, osteoporosis, inflammatory arthropathy and neurological disorders. (anti-diabetic novel peptide) and