5.3.1 In vitro production
C. roseus has become endangered because of excessive harvesting
for the extraction of anti-cancer compounds from this plant. For this
reason, plant in vitro culture techniques to produce adventitious
root from explants of shoots, leaves, and internodes has been used to
cultivate this plant in farms because it is cost-effective and
less-laborious. Adventitious roots induced from leaves and internodes
yields a higher amount of CPT production compare to ex-vitrorooted stem cutting (Martin et al.,
2008). UV-treatment as elicitor has improved CPT yields up to 11-fold
in Camptotheca acuminate plant cell cultures
(Kai et al., 2015), whereas salicylic
acid-induced a 25-fold increase in 10-hydroxycamptothecin yields
(Pi et al., 2010).