Valeriana is an important genus due to its immense medicinal properties.
This plant contains over 150-200 chemical constituents, which make it useful as a
herbal remedy for various ailments. Conventionally, these plant species are cultivated
through seeds; however, poor seed setting coupled with low germination rate restricts
its cultivation in the wild as well as poses a problem for its cultivation. Due to irregular
grazing and excessive harvesting by local people for herbal drugs, the wild population
of Valeriana species are at a high risk of rapid elimination and extinction. Plant tissue
culture is one of the most important methods used for the effective conservation of
many rare, endangered and exploited plant species. However, the induction of genetic
variability in regenerants may limit the purpose of micropropagation. Assessing the
clonal fidelity of in vitro derived regenerants is highly essential to know whether plants
are true to type or not. The development and utilization of molecular markers for the
identification of plant genetic diversity is one of the most important progresses in the
field of molecular genetics studies. Molecular markers are a prevalent tool, due to their
stability, cost-effectiveness and ease of use for a variety of applications in the field of
molecular genetics. Several molecular markers have been efficaciously employed to
evaluate the clonal fidelity of the Valeriana clones so that only the elite, genetically
identical plants are propagated. This chapter highlights the biology, pharmacology,
need for micropropagation and application of DNA molecular markers in clonal fidelity
assessment of the in vitro propagated Valeriana species.
Keywords: Molecular markers, Genetic stability, Chemical constituents, Genetic variability, Clonal fidelity, Molecular genetics, Micropropagation.
