Centella asiatica L., commonly known as Gotu kola, Indian pennywort, and Asiatic pennyworts, is an herbaceous perennial plant that belongs to the family Apiaceae and has long been used in the traditional medicine system. The plant is known to produce a wide range of active metabolites such as triterpenoids including asiatic acid, asiaticoside, brahmoside, and madecassic acid along with other constituents including centellose, centelloside, and madecassoside, etc., which show immense pharmacological activity. Due to its beneficial role in neuroprotection activity, the plant has been considered as a brain tonic. However, limited cultivation, poor seed viability with low germination rate, and overexploitation for decades have led to severe depletion and threatened its wild stocks. The present review aimed to provide up-to-date information on biotechnological tools applied to this endangered medicinal plant for its in vitro propagation, direct or indirect regeneration, synthetic seed production, strategies for secondary metabolite productions including different elicitors. In addition, a proposed mechanism for the biosynthesis of triterpenoids is also discussed.
Keywords: Centella asiatica, elicitation, hairy root culture, micropropagation, synthetic seeds, triterpenoids
Author Biographies
Zishan Ahmad, Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Bamboo Research Institute, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Alexandra Zaushintsena, Research Institute of Biotechnology, Kemerovo State University, Krasnaya Street 6, Kemerovo 650043, Russia
Department of Ecology and Nature Management, Kemerovo State University, Krasnaya Street 6, Kemerovo 650043, Russia
Svetlana Ivanova, Natural Nutraceutical Biotesting Laboratory, Kemerovo State University, Krasnaya Street 6, Kemerovo 650043, Russia
Department of General Mathematics and Informatics, Kemerovo State University, Krasnaya Street, 6, Kemerovo 650043, Russia
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