Transgenic technology to improve therapeutic efficacy of medicinal plants

Man is dependent on plants for food and to cure diseases from the ancient times. There is rich literature mentioning the plant for their various medicinal properties in form of pharmacopoeias. Chinese pharmacopeia is the exhaustive literature mentioning around 10,000 medicinal plants and their properties. Plants are used either in the form of traditional preparations or as the pure active compounds to treat various types of diseases. Plants in some cases are the sole source of the specific drug like for malaria; the curative drug artemisinin is produced only by Artemisia annua L. plants. Apart from the dependency of modern medicine on plants for these important drugs, the world is inclined to use herbal products to cure various ailments mainly due to their lesser side effects and easy availability. However, the identification and lower content of the active compounds is one of the major challenges for the plant biotechnologist. Scientists from a long time are in constant struggle to identify and to enhance therapeutic efficacy of the active compounds present in these medicinal plants to exploit the maximum benefit out of them. This chapter outlines the conventional to modern methods discovered and used till date to enhance efficacy of medicinal plants.