Designer Medicinal and Aromatic Crops: Development and Characterization of Improved Bioactive Molecules for Viral Diseases

Medicinal and aromatic plants are the raw materials that produce various herbal and synthetic drugs due to their properties. Ongoing studies on these plants have typically focused on their medicinal and aromatic properties, generating a limited quantity of secondary metabolites crucial for manufacturing pharmaceutical drugs. The cost of such drugs, which are made from natural products, is high due to their high demand and low concentration in plants. Thus, various strategies have been employed to synthesize more secondary metabolites. Conventional breeding and plant cell, tissue, and organ culture, along with a transgenic approach, are being widely used for improved production of secondary metabolites in aromatic and therapeutic plants. Recently, metabolic engineering, genome editing, and the use of transcription factors in molecular breeding have been used for enhancing phytochemicals in plants of medicinal importance. Many plants have been developed by using these strategies and have shown successful outcomes. This chapter provides an overview of various techniques for augmenting the physiologically active compounds found in medicinal plants, demonstrating the significance of biotechnological instruments. Utilizing cell culture strategies in conjunction with other techniques, such as biotic and abiotic elicitation, can increase the concentration of the culture’s secondary metabolites. Thus, promising methods for the characterization and enhancement of secondary metabolites include metabolic engineering, genetic engineering, and cell culture methods. Transcription factors are useful molecular tools for metabolic engineering, according to several recent research. Additionally, these techniques will prevent the extinction of some rare plant species.