Plants in vitro propagation with its applications in food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetic industries; current scenario and future approaches

Abstract

Plant tissue culture technique employed for the identification and isolation of bioactive phytocompounds has numerous industrial applications. It provides potential benefits for different industries which include food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics. Various agronomic crops i.e., cereals, fruits, vegetables, ornamental plants and forest trees are currently being used for in vitro propagation. Plant tissue culture coupled with biotechnological approaches leads towards sustainable agricultural development providing solutions to major food security issues. Plants are the rich source of phytochemicals with medicinal properties rendering them useful for the industrial production of pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals. Furthermore, there are numerous plant compounds with application in the cosmetics industry. In addition to having moisturizing, anti-ageing, anti-wrinkle effects; plant-derived compounds also possess pharmacological properties such as antiviral, antimicrobial, antifungal, anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-allergy characteristics. The in vitro propagation of industrially significant flora is gaining attention because of its several advantages over conventional plant propagation methods. One of the major advantages of this technique is the quick availability of food throughout the year, irrespective of the growing season, thus opening new opportunities to the producers and farmers. The sterile or endangered flora can also be conserved by plant micro propagation methods. Hence, plant tissue culture is an extremely efficient and cost-effective technique for biosynthetic studies and bio-production, biotransformation, or bioconversion of plant-derived compounds. However, there are certain limitations of in-vitro plant regeneration system including difficulties with continuous operation, product removal, and aseptic conditions. For sustainable industrial applications of in-vitro regenerated plants on a large scale, these constraints need to be addressed in future studies.

Keywords: cosmetics; explants; industry; medicines; pharmaceuticals; plant tissue culture; secondary metabolites.

Figure 1

An overview of tissue culture process (A, B) small explant develops callus which then produces shoots a few weeks after being placed into tissue culture media (C) “A to I” shows complete procedure from single cell placement to MS media to development of a complete plant (D) How all phases in plant tissue culture from initiation, multiplication, root formation, shoot formation and acclimatization occurs.

Figure 2

In vitro plant propagation of plants at Tissue Culture Lab (A, B) Roots are fully developed prior to moving plants to pots of soil.

Figure 3

Recent methods used for industrial production of bioactive compounds via plant tissue culture.

Figure 4

In vitro propagation of banana (A) Callus formation to roots development (B) Maturation of plants in media (C) Plant sown in pot (D) Plant sown in soil in controlled conditions, acclimatization (E) Sowing of plant in the field (F) Tissue culture produced Banana field.

Figure 5

In vitro propagation of pineapple (A, B) Initiation and multiplication stage (C–E) Root and shoot formation, plants are fully grown to move to pots of soil.

Figure 6

Wheat tissue culture (A) Inoculation of single cell to tissue culture media (B) Root and shoot development (C, D) Roots are fully developed prior to moving plants to pots of soil.

Figure 7

Rice tissue culture (A–C) Single cell to callus formation (D, E) Sub culturing and regenerated plants are ready to move to pots.

Figure 8

Structures of (A) Berberine (B) Valepotriates (C) Taxol.