569 © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018 N. Kumar (ed.), Biotechnological Approaches for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0535-1_26 Chapter 26 Genetic Engineering Potential of Hairy Roots of Poppy (Papaver spp.) for Production of Secondary Metabolites, Phytochemistry, and In Silico Approaches Mala Trivedi, Aditi Singh, Parul Johri, Rachana Singh, and Rajesh K. Tiwari Abstract Opium poppy is one of the most important medicinal plants, because of its secondary metabolites (alkaloids). Opium as such is an important product, which has many uses and abuses. Its alkaloids are widely used in modern pharmacopeia. Agrobacterium rhizogenes (hairy roots), mediated hairy root culture, is also used for secondary metabolite production under in vitro conditions. Hairy roots are able to grow fast without phytohormones and to produce the metabolites of the mother plant. India is the only country where UN has given license to produce opium from latex. The application of opiate alkaloids, mainly in hydrochloride, sulfate, and phosphate forms, is restricted in some well-defned therapeutic felds. A major com- ponent among alkaloids is morphine, having analgesic in nature and used mainly to control severe pain and sedative effects. Poppy seeds have been described as tonic and aphrodisiac, promote luster of the body, enhance capacity to muscular work, and allay nervous excitement. Plant of such economic importance is affected by various biotic and abiotic factors leading to yield loss. Biotic factors include fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes, and birds too. This important plant has huge prospects in pharma industry, and on other hand, it is facing lots of challenges in the form of illicit trade, drug abuse, and biotic and abiotic stresses. Keywords Opium poppy · Alkaloids · Hairy root · Secondary metabolite 26.1 Introduction The opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L.), member of family Papaveraceae, is an important plant known from ages for its medicinal value (Neligan 1927). Its active components are being used in acute pain. Besides India, it is grown in European M. Trivedi · A. Singh · P. Johri · R. Singh · R. K. Tiwari (*) Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow Campus, India e-mail: rktiwari@lko.amity.edu