Morphogenetic and Hairy Root Induction Responses in Various Explants of Justicia adhatoda

Justicia adhatoda is an important medicinal plant widely utilised in rural healthcare systems for the treatment of various ailments. Its leaves contain bioactive pyrroloquinazoline alkaloids, notably vasicine and vasicinone, which are responsible for its therapeutic properties. The plant exhibits significant pharmacological activities, including expectorant, antiseptic, antiperiodic, and anthelmintic effects. In vitro plant tissue culture techniques offer valuable approaches for the controlled production and enhancement of secondary metabolites. Methods such as callus culture, cell suspension culture, and hairy root culture can be effectively employed to manipulate growth conditions and increase the yield of desired bioactive compounds. In the present study we report an efficient somatic embryogenesis and their histochemical analysis, plant regeneration, Induction of hairy roots using Agrobacterium rhizogene ATCC15834, harboring agropine-type plasmid pRiA4b and A4 strains from various explants of Justicia adhatoda. Hairy root suspensions were analyzed by HPLC and relative amount of the vasicine yield was estimated to be 8mg/gDW.