Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam. (Convolvulaceae) as a source of polyphenols with antitumor activity and prospects for in vitro production using chemical elicitors - A Review

Ipomoea batatas has an enormous projection as functional food and it is an excellent source of anticancerous or chemopreventive substances. Plant tissue culture offers the possibility of inducing secondary metabolites production under controlled conditions and their projection for industrial purposes. To establish the state of knowledge regarding advances in polyphenols chemical elicitation from I. batatas and the possibility of producing potential anticancerous compounds in vitro culture systems, a bibliometric review and an analysis of information available until 2020 were made. Results showed that research field on which review was carried out is current and has a growing trend; however, sweet potato cell suspensions evaluation is scarce. Elicitation using compounds with hormonal effects represents a good alternative to increase phenolic acids production in this species. Advances in phenols elicitation from sweet potato cell suspensions will require search superior genotypes, and associating this knowledge with in vivo and in silico studies.