Abstract

IN VITRO PRODUCTION OF FLAVONOIDS: A REVIEW

Asha Jyoti Bharati and Yogendra Kumar Bansal*

ABSTRACT

Plants produces diversity of secondary metabolites which not only plays an important role in adaption accordering to the environment but also represent an important source of active pharmaceuticals. Flavonoids are a group of polyphenols having a wide array of biological activities including anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, antioxidant, anti mutagenic etc. Biotechnology offers a great opportunity to exploit these secondary metabolites via different methods. Plant cell and tissue culture is one of the emerging fields of biotechnology to investigate and enhance the production of secondary metabolites. Undifferentiated cell cultures like callus cultures and suspension cultures have been studied widely for flavonoid production. Along with this hairy root culture and transformation techniques have also been studied for the production of different flavonoids as they are more genetically stable. The focus of the present review is the application of the tissue culture technology, type of medium and explants used for the production of flavonoids in different plant species.

Keywords: Flavonoid, in vitro, secondary metabolites, callus culture, suspension culture.