A review of a new method of gene transfer in medicinal plants with the approach of producing secondary metabolites.

Today, the secondary metabolites of medicinal plants have numerous applications in the pharmaceutical, agricultural, food, cosmetic and health industries. Considering the limited resources of medicinal plants around the world and the risk of extinction of these plants due to over-harvesting, the use and extraction of secondary metabolites, as well as the chemical synthesis of secondary metabolites, are very complex and expensive. Therefore, gene transfer and tissue culture of medicinal plants is considered a useful alternative. A modern solution can help to increase the production and accumulation of the desired compound. Also, the inoculation of hairy roots with Agrobacterium and the production of transgenic roots are other methods that improve the production of secondary metabolites by transferring desired genes with the help of Agrobacterium to hairy roots. In this article, a very useful solution for improving the production of secondary metabolites at the mass production level is collected.

Keywords:

gene transfer , cell culture , medicinal plants , secondary metabolites , root hair.