Withania somnifera: Advances and Implementation of Molecular and Tissue Culture Techniques to Enhance Its Application

Abstract

Withania somnifera, commonly known as Ashwagandha an important medicinal plant largely used in Ayurvedic and indigenous medicine for over 3,000 years. Being a medicinal plant, dried powder, crude extract as well as purified metabolies of the plant has shown promising therapeutic properties. Withanolides are the principal metabolites, responsible for the medicinal properties of the plant. Availability and amount of particular withanolides differ with tissue type and chemotype and its importance leads to identification characterization of several genes/ enzymes related to withanolide biosynthetic pathway. The modulation in withanolides can be achieved by controlling the environmental conditions like, different tissue culture techniques, altered media compositions, use of elicitors, etc. Among all the in vitro techniques, hairy root culture proved its importance at industrial scale, which also gets benefits due to more accumulation (amount and number) of withanolides in roots tissues of W. somnifera. Use of media compostion and elicitors further enhances the amount of withanolides in hairy roots. Another important modern day technique used for accumulation of desired secondary metabolites is modulating the gene expression by altering environmental conditions (use of different media composition, elicitors, etc.) or through genetic enginnering. Knowing the significance of the gene and the key enzymatic step of the pathway, modulation in withanolide contents can be achieved upto required amount in therapeutic industry. To accomplish maximum productivity through genetic enginnering different means of Withania transformation methods have been developed to obtain maximum transformation efficiency. These standardized transformation procedues have been used to overexpress/silence desired gene in W. somnifera to understand the outcome and succeed with enhanced metabolic production for the ultimate benefit of human race.

Withaferin A – A natural multifaceted therapeutic compound

“…Among the plant parts, leaves were found to express higher quantities of WA. This differential accumulation of the secondary metabolites in different organs is attributed to its tissue specific regulation of synthetic genes (Pandey et al, 2017). Further the radiotracer studies using 24-methylene cholesterol as a precursor reveals the possible transportation of withanolides from leaves to the roots (Sangwan et al, 2008).…”

Influence of spices and herbs incorporation on popular Indian dairy products: A review

“…The following Table 1 depicts the presence of bioactive compounds in the most commonly utilized Spices and Herbs. [59] ; (Zhang et al, 2016) [94] ; (Ho et al, 2013) Turmeric Curcuminoids (curcumin, desmethoxycurcumin, bismethoxycurcumin) (Komonsing et al, 2021) [42] ; (Zhang et al, 2015) [94] ; (Mathew and Hsu, 2018) [52] ; (Yadav et al, 2013) [93] ; (Syed et al, 2015) [82] ; (Sahne et al, 2016) [72] Curry leaves Carbazole alkaloids (Ganesan et al, 2013) [22] ; (Khedkar, 2015) [41] ; (Ghasemzadeh et al, 2014) [23] Coriander Linalool (Begnami et al, 2016) [7] ; (Kansal et al, 2011) [36] ; (Lodi et al, 2012) [46] Clove Eugenol (Nagababu et al, 2010) [56] ; (Shukri et al, 2010) [77] ; (Devi et al, 2010) [16] Mint Rosmarinic acid, caffeic acid, ferulic acid Mimica-Dukic and Bozin, 2008 [54] , (Tahira et al, 2011) [83] ; (Lee, 2010) [44] ; (Brown et al, 2019) [10] Giloy Tinosporide, tinosporine, giloinsterol, giloin (Choudhary et al, 2013) [14] ; (Sharma et al, 2019) [73] ; (Murugesan et al, 2021) [55] Ashwagandha Withanolide A and Withaferin A (Namdeo and ingawale, 2021) [57] ; (Pandey et al, 2017) [60] ; (Thirugnanasambantham and Senthil, 2016) [85] ; (Shasmita et al, 2017) [75] ; (Singh et al, 2017)…”

Structural Characterization of Withanolide Glycosides from the Roots of Withania somnifera and Their Potential Biological Activities

“…Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal, also well-known as “Indian ginseng” or “ashwagandha” belongs to the plant family Solanaceae [ 1 , 2 ]. Its roots and leaves have been largely used for purposes to promote longevity and good health in the ayurvedic system of traditional Indian medicine for over 3000 years [ 2 ].…”

“…Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal, also well-known as “Indian ginseng” or “ashwagandha” belongs to the plant family Solanaceae [ 1 , 2 ]. Its roots and leaves have been largely used for purposes to promote longevity and good health in the ayurvedic system of traditional Indian medicine for over 3000 years [ 2 ]. Until present, the roots of W. somnifera have been widely consumed as a functional food due to the fact of therapeutic properties, consisting of invigoration, enhancement of cognitive ability, and stress release activities.…”