Role of Biotechnology in Medicinal & Aromatic Plants

Medicinal and aromatic plants are in demand worldwide for use in pharmaceuticals, dietary supplements and cosmetics. With a continually growing global market, biotechnology plays an important role through conservation, micropropagation and enhancement of the available plant base.

Conservation

• As plant strains are continually harvested and often genetically altered for product development, it is necessary to protect the original wild strain from destruction. Biotechnology research has refined cryopreservation as a viable conservation process, which involves storing plant genetic material in liquid nitrogen for future revival and propagation.

Micropropagation

• Micropropagation, or cloning, is a biotechnology process allowing the rapid production of multiple genetically identical copies of a single plant. This is especially useful for plants in high demand, or for those that are slow to cultivate naturally.

Enhancement

• Biotechnology enables the transfer, manipulation and alteration of plant genetic information. This cultivation of desirable traits allows for functioning improvements in medicinal and aromatic plants, such as enhanced medicinal actions or nutritional content.