Artemisinin biosynthesis of Artemisia annua L. promoted by brassinosteroid

doi:10.7523/j.issn.2095-6134.2015.04.008

Abstract

Abstract: As a plant growth regulator, brassinosteroid is able to activate the expression of the genes in their promoter sequences containing E-box (CANNTG) cis-element. Since the key enzyme genes of artemisinin biosynthesis pathway, including ADS (amorpha-4,11-diene synthase), DBR2 (artemisinic aldehyde Δ11(13) reductase), and CYP71AV1 (cytochrome P450 monooxygenase), all contain this element, the effect of brassinosteroid on artemisinin biosynthesis is investigated. Our results show that 80 μmol/L of brassinosteroid is the optimal concentration for foliar application of Artemisia annua L.; the artemisinin content increases by more than 100% compared to that of the control after 80 μmol/L brassinosteroid treatment for 4 days; and the expressions of artemisinin biosynthesis-related genes ADS, CYP71AV1, and DBR2 are all up-regulated after treatment. The above results indicate that brassinosteroid promotes the biosynthesis of artemisinin by up-regulating the expression of the key genes involved in artemisinin biosynthesis, which could be used as a possible way to increase artemisinin production of medicinal plant A. annua.

Key words: Artemisia annua L., artemisinin, gene expression, brassinosteroid

CLC Number:

TQ464

CHI Jianting, SHEN Yalin, SHU Weiheng, WANG Hong. Artemisinin biosynthesis of Artemisia annua L. promoted by brassinosteroid[J]. , 2015, 32(4): 476-481.

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