The production of biomass and secondary metabolites from plant species with declining or endangered natural populations of medicinal plants, and with promising pharmacological potential, can be sustainably improved through biotechnological methods using strategies that leverage plant cell cultures to enhance biomass growth and the accumulation of bioactive compounds. These studies will support the application of plant growth regulators and elicitors as technological tools to improve the production of valuable secondary metabolites in vivo, in vitro, and in silico. Recent research has led to the publication of high-impact advances in plant biotechnology, especially in metabolomics, revealing its relevance not only in basic plant biology but also in its potential economic applications as renewable sources of natural products. The use of biotechnology techniques is an alternative to address the low content of natural products in plant biomass by increasing the concentration of secondary metabolites in medicinal plants.

The application of biotechnology to obtain, produce, analyse, and increase the content of specialized metabolites in plant tissues and to evaluate their biological activity through in vitro, in vivo, or in silico assays using medicinal plant explants is of great interest to the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and food industries. Improving the production of secondary metabolites is a goal to be achieved through the induction of cell cultures in flasks or bioreactors to produce natural products with biological activity. We welcome submissions of original or peer-reviewed research studies on plant biotechnology for producing specialized metabolites in medicinal plants.

In this Research Topic, we welcome all article types published by Frontiers in Plant Science especially those that focus on:

1. The use of Biostimulants to counteract the negative effects of abiotic stresses on plants

2. A partial or complete chemical characterization of Biostimulant formulation, along with the physiology

3. The effect on the morphology of the plant. Articles on this will only be considered in scope with this research topic if it is supported by a potential mechanism of action that is at least hypothesized and partially proven

4. Experiments have been carried out in the field or under a controlled environment are equally welcome

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Biotechnological Approaches to Produce Specialized Metabolites in Medicinal Plants: In Vivo, in Vitro and in Silico Strategies