**2. Bioprospecting of medicinal plants**

Biodiversity prospecting or bioprospecting of the medicinal plants is the worldwide activity in the current years. Biodiversity prospecting is the exploration, extraction and screening of biological diversity and indigenous knowledge for commercially valuable genetic and biochemical resources. In early stages, bioprospecting mainly focused on the plants from the forest ecosystem. But in recent

*Medicinal Plants and Its Pharmacological Values DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99848*

years, various other forms of biodiversity such as insects, algae and microorganisms have been explored with substantial success [8]. During recent years this activity involves the use of advanced technologies to develop new pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, cosmetics and other bi-products from biological diversity [9]. With the help of advanced technology and sophisticated techniques and tools it has become effective way to conduct research on metabolic response of living system, genetic manipulation and novel drug discovery through bioprospecting. Various bio-active molecules have been isolated and tested for their pharmacological activities [10].
