Cambial meristematic cell culture: a sustainable technology toward in vitro specialized metabolites production

Abstract

Cambial meristematic cells (CMCs) culture has received a fair share of scientific and industrial attention among the trending topics of plant cell culture, especially their potential toward secondary metabolites production. However, the conventional plant cell culture is often not commercially feasible because of difficulties associated with culture dedifferentiated cells. Several reports have been published to culture CMCs and bypass the dedifferentiation process in plant cell culture. Numerous mitochondria, multiple vacuoles, genetic stability, self-renewal, higher biomass, and stable metabolites accumulation are the characteristics features of CMCs compared with dedifferentiated cells (DDCs) culture. The CMCs culture has a broader application to produce large-scale natural compounds for: pharmaceuticals, food, and cosmetic industries. Cutting-edge progress in plant cellular and molecular biology has allowed unprecedented insights into cambial stem cell culture and its fundamental processes. Therefore, regarding sustainability and natural compound production, cambial cell culture ranks among the most vital biotechnological interventions for industrial and economic perspectives. This review highlights the recent advances in plant stem cell culture and understands the cambial cells induction and culture mechanisms that affect the growth and natural compounds production.

Keywords:

• Plant stem cell culture
• cambial meristematic cells
• dedifferentiated cells
• cytodifferentiation
• hormonal regulations
• secondary metabolites
• industrial biotechnology

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the Director, CSIR-IHBT, for providing all the necessary facilities. Mahinder Partap is supported by the CSIR, New Delhi, through the Junior/Senior Research Fellowship and Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, India, for Ph.D. enrolment. CSIR-IHBT publication number for this manuscript is 4894.

Authors contribution

MP: Conceptualization, collecting data and interpretation, original figures and table preparation, original draft writing, reviewing, and editing. ARW: Conceptualization, supervision, writing, reviewing, and editing. SK: Conceptualization, overall guidance.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

Funding

The study is financially supported by CSIR-IHBT, Palampur, India, under the project “Biotechnological interventions for sustainable bio-economy generation through characterization, conservation, prospection, and utilization of Himalayan bioresources (MLP- 0201) and Phytopharma mission project (HCP-0010)”.