Cryopreservation of Anti-Diabetic Plants

Medicinal plant use and trade has seen a dramatic increase over the years owing to the increased realization about its health benefitting effects. Limited commercial cultivation has forced the industries and traders to rely on the wild collections to meet the growing demand. The situation has threatened the survival of many species including those having anti-diabetic potential. These difficult to conserve species need biotechnological techniques for their long-term conservation and sustainable utilization. For non-orthodox and vegetatively propagated species, cryopreservation in liquid nitrogen (LN) at −196 °C offers the most successful and economical technique for long-term conservation. Traditional techniques based on freeze-induced dehydration and recent techniques based on vitrification have been efficiently used for cryopreservation of all types of the explants. Cryopreservation offers multiple advantages over other conservation strategies as it minimizes the risk of contamination, cost of maintenance and cost of labour. The process of cryopreservation exposes the cell or tissue to various physical, chemical and physiological stresses which may result in cryoinjury or genetic level changes sometimes. The analysis of such morphological, structural, genetic or functional changes is important to assess the genetic integrity of cryopreserved germplasm to see if they are ‘true to type’ after cryopreservation. This can be studied at the phenotypic, histological, cytological, biochemical and molecular levels. The chapter will throw light upon the importance and status of cryopreservation, different methods of cryopreservation adopted in major anti-diabetic plants along with the pre and post cryotreatments and regeneration protocols, infrastructure requirements for cryobank. The concept of root cryobanking and cryobionomics dealing with genetic stability and the reintroduction of cryopreserved plants into the environment is also covered.