The Role of Molecular Biology Application on Sustainable Food Security Management: Case Study on Herbal Plant Products

Abstract

Background: Food security is a crucial national and global issue. Various efforts have been made to meet food needs in quantity and quality. Herbal products are part of functional food products that must be managed sustainably. On the other hand, the development of molecular biology has enormous potential to be applied in various fields, one of which is an effort to achieve food security. Nonetheless, molecular biology has implications for food security, particularly in managing herbal products. Therefore, a thorough study to identify the various application roles of molecular biology application on herbal plant product management supporting food security goal is essential.

Methods: This study adopts a literature review method with four basic steps: search, appraisal, synthesis, and analysis.

Results: Several studies showed that molecular biology techniques have been developed and used in herbal plant product management. Some of these are the use of molecular markers and DNA barcoding for medicinal plant identification and herbal product authentication, bioassay and gene expression analysis for understanding the use of plant metabolites in curing complex diseases, genetic engineering for plant-derived bioactive compounds production through plant tissue culture, et cetera. Besides, there are challenges following that potential, i.e., sample quality and quantity, genetic variability, method reliability, regulation and standards, community acceptance, and dependence on technology.

Conclusion: Based on the reviewed data, it is clear that molecular biology application has significant roles in herbal plant product management that will lead to sustainable food security through natural resource availability and economic improvement through several herbal product innovations and high production.