**3. Production of SMt by biotechnology tools**

There are distinct strategies to optimize the production and modulation SMt in medicinal plants and food. The main strategies are by uses the elicitors (molecules capable of inducing defense in the plant) [1], which are classified as biotic and abiotic. Biotics are of biological origin, while abiotics can be physical or chemical. Some examples of physical abiotics are the weather, bacteria, and plagues, among others, while chemical abiotics possess an intense variety, with those most utilized being jasmonic acid and salicylic acid [27, 28]. One of the advantages of using elicitors treatment is that they function as signaling compounds for the mechanisms of defense; thus, they increase the production of SMt in an effective and rapid manner [29]. There is great specify in the interaction of plant-elicitor species which implies that the adequate one for each culture, the time of adding it, and the concentration for obtaining best response should be selected [30].

There is other technique very used to obtain SMt *in vitro*, it focuses on obtaining the roots, which is known as "hairy roots" or transformed roots; for this, the bacterium *Agrobacterium rhizogenes* is very used. This microorganism transfers the plasmid of the Transfer-DNA (T-DNA) of the T-DNA to the plant cell, to verify whether a root transformation was obtained, this can be confirmed by Southern hybridation analysis (this technique permits the detection of a specific DNA sequence in a complex mixture). A main advantage of these is that they have the capacity of rapid growth without the external administration of Plant Growth Regulators (PGR); the majority of these do not require a light supply, and their yield of metabolites is constant due to their genetic stability [1]. Another internal factor is the culture medium added with macro- and micronutrients, as well the external factors, such as light intensity, temperature, humidity, and stirring speed [31].

#### *Modulation of Secondary Metabolites among Mexican Medicinal Plants by Using Elicitors… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99888*

In general, formulation of the culture medium begins with the base medium, being the most utilized Muashige & Skoog (MS), B5 of Gamborg and Linsmaier and Skoog (LS), and Nitsch and Nitsch (NN) [32]. These culture mediums contain minerals, vitamins, and a carbon source, normally sucrose and sometimes fructose is used. Although plant cell cultures typically are initiate in solid medium, they require liquid medium for production on a large scale. The mineral content and/or the carbon source in culture medium have a profound impact on biosynthesis of SMt employed in the manufacturing of phytodrugs and/or compound-of-pharmaceutical-interest [33].

Other tools very used to obtain SMt by biotechnological process is through the use of BioCatalyzers; this method has been used to transform polyphenols compounds; for example, *Bouvardia ternifolia* is utilized for the production of a BioC denominated dehydrodiisoeugenol, which was obtained from the supernatant of cells suspension, demonstrating a yield of around 77%. The dehydrodiisoeugenol obtained from *B. ternifolia* allows the production of isoeugenol by biotransformation; it is known that plant peroxides transform phenols substituted for by a methyl group orto position to the corresponding O-radical, which, on establishing itself by resonance, produces a Cradical; the latter is that which leads to dimerization, producing a dimer. This biotransformation represents a clean and green alternative with respect to traditional chemical methods, in which oxidative bonding reactions are affected using catalysts such as FeCl3, K3(FeCN)6, and Cu(OH)Cl [34].

Recently, interest in research and development of *in vitro* plant tissue cultures from MP has grown; however, there are scarce studies, to our knowledge, in which the biological activities of these SMt obtained by this process are described. The majority of works published only mention the conditions of the biotechnological process and the final concentrations of the different metabolites produced, but do not evaluate the pharmacological activity of these SMt, and the authors solely cite that these have been reported in previous works.

In **Table 1** and **Figure 1**, some examples are described. It is important to mention that on some occasions is difficult to establish the biotechnological process conditions to induce the biosynthesis of bioactive SMt from a MP.



*Modulation of Secondary Metabolites among Mexican Medicinal Plants by Using Elicitors… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99888*



#### **Table 1.**

*Secondary metabolites obtained for cellular cultures from medicinal plant tissues* in vitro *and their biological activity.*
