WIKIMEDIA, KRISTIAN PETERSSweet wormwood, Artemisia annua, is the sole source of a potent antimalarial compound called artemisinin. The drug is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a treatment for malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum, but supply is currently well below demand.
Now, researchers in China have for the first time published a high-quality genome sequence for A. annua, and genetically modified the plant to produce much higher levels of artemisinin. The results were published yesterday (April 24) in Molecular Plant.
“Nearly half of the world’s population is at risk of malaria,” study coauthor Kexuan Tang of Shanghai Jiao Tong University says in a statement. “Our strategy for the large-scale production of artemisinin will meet the increasing demand for this medicinal compound and help address this global health problem.”
A. annua produces artemisinin at a rate of only about 0.1 percent to 1 percent of the dry weight of its leaves. Alternative approaches to producing the compound have mainly focused on making the drug through other means, ...
