This volume deals with one of the most important areas of biotechnology research vis-à-vis medicinal plants. Exploitation of medicinal plant wealth demands rational utilization without destroying biodiversity and implementation of measures of conserve the natural resources. Biotechnological techniques offer uncommon opportunities to improve quality and quantity of pharmaceutical compounds in plants and novel methods to extract active principles, which are described in detail. The volume also contains articles on the techniques of micro propagation and in vitro conservation of medicinal plants, efficient procedures for the production of secondary metabolites, expression of recombinant antibodies and edible vaccines and production of anticancer drugs. Other interesting articles include reviews on application of biotechnology tools in the traditional forms of medicine such as Ayurveda and Unani.

By V. K. Singh and J. N. Govil