Food security and the medicinal needs of billions of people around the world are pressing global issues, and the biodiversity and sustainable utilization of plants is of great significance in this context. Further, ethnobotanical studies are vital in the discovery of new drugs from indigenous medicinal plants, and plants with industrially important metabolites need to be cultivated to meet the growing market demand. In addition, the production of plant metabolites under in vitro conditions also has tremendous possibilities. The totipotency of plant cells plays a valuable role in the sustainable utilization of plant resources through cell, tissue and organ culture. At the same time, production can be enhanced using productive cell lines, treatment with elicitors, changing nutritional parameters and metabolic engineering. This book provides state-of-the-art information on biodiversity, conservation, ethnobotany, various aspects of In vitro secondary metabolite production, bioprospecting from various plant groups and drug discovery. It also discusses methods of extracting and characterizing drug leads from plant sources.

The book " L - glutaminase production by marine fungi, authored by Dr. Sabu Abdulhameed and Prof. (Dr.) M Chandrasekaran is an authentic record on the bioprocess design and development for the production of the therapeutically and industrially important biocatalyst, L - Glutaminase. The book narrates various aspects of bioprocess development including Submerged fermentation, Solid state fermentation and Immobilization. Utilization of cheap agro-residues for the production of this important enzyme adds quality to the work. Any technology development for the future should prove itself as eco-friendly for its acceptability and viability. The achievement of multi fold enhancement in the yield of L-glutaminase after bioprocess optimization shows the strength of fermentation technology. The authors are renowned experts in the field of bioprocess technology and contributed thoroughly to this re-emerging field.