A Review of Biotechnological Approaches to Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Medicinal Lianas in India

Medicinal lianas of India are source of several important secondary metabolites which have great potential for future therapeutics. Because of their overexploitation using destructive harvesting methods and/or with some reproductive barriers, most of them have become threatened species. Recent biotechnological developments depicting their biological activity, standardizing the micropropagation methods, and development of callus and cell cultures for the production of useful metabolites have opened up novel ways for their conservation by reducing pressure on their natural populations. Though considerable success has been achieved in developing the micropropagation protocols as well as bioreactor level production of secondary metabolites for some lianas, yet for many lianas development of these technologies remained a challenge. This article reviews the status of biotechnology of medicinal lianas of India and discusses the novel combinations to achieve the desired results. The review is expected to help in deciding the priorities for further technology development for production of useful metabolites and multiplication of lianas in mass scale.