Tissue culture and regeneration of an antimalarial plant, Artemisia sieberi Besser

WHO recommends artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) as the most effective choice to treat malaria. For developing transgenic plants with high accumulation of artemisinin (by introducing genes encoding enzymes which regulate the biosynthetic pathway of artemisinin), an efficient protocol for tissue culture and plant regeneration is necessary. In the present study, leaf explants of Artemisia sieberi were cultivated in Murashige & Skoog based medium supplemented by combination of different plant growth regulators including 6-benzyl-aminopurine (BA), α-naphthalene-acetic acid (NAA), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), picloram (Pic) and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). The highest frequency of shoot induction was obtained on MS medium supplemented with 2 mg/L BA plus 0.05 mg/L NAA (95% regeneration) and MS medium supplemented with 2 mg/L BA plus 0.5 mg/L IAA (85% regeneration). Rooting was obtained on MS medium supplemented with 0.05 mg/L NAA. The present study has revealed a simple, reliable, rapid and high efficient regeneration system for A. sieberi Besser as a source of artemisinin in short period via adventitious shoot induction procedure.