Biotechnological approaches to enhance Plant Secondary Metabolites
Sayyed I.U.
Department of Botany, Y & M AKIS Poona College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Camp. Pune-411001 (India) sayyed_iliyas@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
Medicinal and aromatic plants are known to produce secondary metabolites that find use as flavoring agents, fragrances, insecticides, dyes, and drugs. Biotechnology offers several choices through which secondary metabolism in medicinal plants can be altered in innovative ways, to overproduce phytochemicals of interest, to reduce the content of toxic compounds, or even to produce novel chemicals. Detailed investigation of chromatin organization and microRNAs affecting biosynthesis of secondary metabolites as well as exploring cryptic biosynthetic clusters and synthetic biology options, may provide additional ways to harness this resource.