Scutellaria biotechnology: achievements and future prospects.

Plants of the genus Scutellaria (Family Lamiaceae) constitute one of the common components of Eastern as well as traditional Americ an medicine. Skullcap is a North American perennial plant belonging to the genus Scutellaria . The genus is widespread in Northern Hemisphere represented by close to 400 species. Many species a re rare, threatened, or endangered. Habitat destruction, urbanization, and poor seed set are th e few reasons behind diminishing population of many skullcaps. Many skullcaps have showy, beautiful blooms with great potential as ornamental plants. Skullcap are used in alternative medicine a s anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, emmenagogue, nervine, sedative and strong tonic. We have develop ed a germplasm collection at Fort Valley State University and the populations are maintained in th e greenhouse and through micropropagation. We have made significant headway in the areas of micro propagation, transformation for desired gene transfer and hairy root induction, extraction and H PLC analysis of targeted flavonoids, and clinical role of select flavonoids using glioma cell lines.