Andrographolide is a prominent secondary metabolite found in Andrographis paniculata that exhibits enormous pharmacological effects. In spite of immense value, the normal biosynthesis of andrographolide results in low amount of the metabolite. To induce the biosynthesis of andrographolide, we attempted elicitor-induced activation of andrographolide biosynthesis in cell cultures of A. paniculata. This was carried out by using methyl jasmonate (MeJA) as an elicitor. Among the various concentrations of MeJA tested at different time periods, 5 µM MeJA yielded 5.25 times more andrographolide content after 24 h of treatment. The accumulation of andrographolide was correlated with the expression level of known regulatory genes (hmgs, hmgr, dxs, dxr, isph and ggps) of mevalonic acid (MVA) and 2-C-methyl-d-erythritol-4-phosphate (MEP) pathways. These results established the involvement of MeJA in andrographolide biosynthesis by inducing the transcription of its biosynthetic pathways genes. The coordination of isph, ggps and hmgs expression highly influenced the andrographolide biosynthesis.

A fingerprint was developed to evaluate ten genotypes of Andrographis paniculata (a herbal drug) collected from different geographical locations. The genotypes were assessed by HPLC and the chromatogram areas were used to construct fingerprints. Between the two fingerprints, vector of differences was defined. The scalar mean of the deviated vector was used for statistical analysis. By incorporating appropriate chemometric methods better differentiation of samples was achieved. This provides tools for extracting relevant chemical information from the obtained data. The developed method can be used as a quality control tool for rapid authentication, identity, assessment and selection of good quality natural drug from a wide variety of herbal samples.

Andrographolide is the principal bioactive component of the medicinal plant Andrographis paniculata, to which various diverse pharmacological properties are attributed. Traditionally, andrographolide was extracted from the leaves, stems and other parts of the plant. Leaves have the highest andrographolide content (2–3%) in comparison with the other plant parts. Adventitious root culture of leaf explants of A. paniculata was studied using different strength MS medium supplemented by different concentrations of auxins and a combination of NAA + kinetin for growth and andrographolide production. Among the different auxin treatments in adventitious root culture, only NAA was able to induce adventitious roots. Adventitious roots grown in modified strength MS medium showed the highest root growth (26.7±1.52), as well as the highest amount of andrographolide (133.3±1.5 mg/g DW) as compared with roots grown in half-and full-strength MS medium. Growth kinetics showed maximum biomass production after five weeks of culture in different strength MS liquid medium. The produced andrographolide content was 3.5- 5.5 folds higher than that of the natural plant, depending on the medium strength.

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