Harnessing the potential of nanobiotechnology in medicinal plants

Medicinal plants have recently gained importance due to the increasing acceptance of herbal healthcare practices as they serve a plethora of pharmacological effects owing to the presence of bioactive compounds. However, this increasing demand is posing a threat to the existence of endangered species. Therefore, scientists are exploring different approaches to benefit people with phytotherapeutics using modern technologies and to save these species from extinction. Among these, biotechnological approaches have been employed to serve the purpose but face some limitations thus requiring the intervention of newer approaches such as nanotechnology. Although, an amalgamation of these two technologies has found applications in different areas of plant biotechnology including gene delivery, micropropagation, delivery of nutrient molecules to plants, controlled release of ag-rochemicals, secondary metabolite enhancement via elicitation or precursor feeding, plant stress mitigation, and plant protection, etc. yet studies on these aspects concerning medicinal plants are still minimal. This review attempts to organize and discuss research findings related to the beneficial impact of nanomaterials on plant biotechnology, with a focus on medicinal plants, to provide up-to-date information on this rapidly evolving field. It is expected that the information assembled in this review will help medicinal plant researchers to fully utilize the potential of this technology for cultivation as well as for in vitro propagation of medicinal plants, thus ful-filling the huge demand for herbal medicine. To conclude, an integrated vision is presented on how nano -biotechnology can be used to revolutionize medicinal plant research.