Production of Artemisinin from in Vitro Cultures of Artemisia annua L.

Abstract

A review on artemisinin prodn. by in vitro cultures of untransformed and transformed tissues of Artemisia annua. Artemisinin, a sesquiterpene lactone, is an efficient herbicide and esquizontocide, which requires over ten steps to be produced from raw materials. An alternative approach for artemisinin synthesis would be to clone genes regulating late enzymes in the pathway, and then to provide bacterial cultures with immediate precursors, such as artemisinic acid and/or arteannuin B. [on SciFinder(R)]