Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal, commonly known as ashwagandha or Indian
ginseng, is an important medicinal plant that belongs to the family Solanaceae.
Ashwagandha has been used from time immemorial in different systems of medicine
and extensively used in the Indian system of medicine, and there is discussion of this
plant in different ayurvedic scripts like Charaka samhita, Ashtanga sangraha, etc. The
plant is extensively used for anti-aging and general well-being, and also has anti-cancer
potential. Ashwagandha is also known for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and other
therapeutic activities. In the recent days of Covid-19, the plant has been extensively
used as an immunostimulant. The plant has great potential for its raw materials,
especially for the extraction of bioactive molecules like withanolide-A, withaferin-A,
withasomniferin, withanone, etc. The conventional mode of propagation could not meet
the required commercial demand for either the pharmaceutical industries or the
traditional practitioners. The conventional method of obtaining biomass is influenced
by a large number of environmental factors, where biomass quality and quantity of
bioactive molecules have shown variation. To overcome this, biotechnological
approaches such as plant tissue culture techniques have been established for large-scale
cultivation using micropropagation and also other techniques like a callus and cell
suspension culture, shoot culture, adventitious root culture, and hairy root culture have
been extensively used for in vitro production of bioactive molecules from
ashwagandha. With the advent of metabolic engineering, biosynthetic pathway editing
has made it possible to obtain higher yields of desired metabolites. The present chapter
focuses on the in vitro propagation, biosynthesis of withanolides, and tissue culture
strategies for obtaining high biomass and metabolites. The chapter also focuses on
different elicitation strategies, metabolic engineering approaches, and the development
of elite germplasms for improved metabolite content. The chapter also identifies
research lacunas that need to be addressed for the sustainable production of important
bioactive molecules from ashwagandha.
Keywords: Ashwagandha, Agrobacterium rhizogenes, Callus culture, Withania somnifera, Withanolide-A, Withaferin-A.
