Methyl jasmonate and miconazole differently affect arteminisin production and gene expression in Artemisia annua suspension cultures.

Artemisia annua L., is a herbal plant traditionally used for the treatment of fever. The glandular trichomes of this plant accumulate, although at low levels, artemisinin which is highly effective against malaria. Due to the great importance of this compound many efforts have been made to improve the knowledge on artemisinin production both in plants and in cell cultures. In this study A. annua suspension cultures were established in order to investigate the effects of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and miconazole treatments on artemisinin biosynthesis. Twenty-two mM MeJA induced a three-fold increase of artemisinin production soon after 30 min. Two hundred mM miconazole induced a 2.5 fold increase of artemisinin production after 24 h treatment but had severe effects on cell viability. The influence of these treatments on the expression of biosynthetic genes was also investigated. MeJA induced an up-regulation of CYP71AV1 while miconazole induced an up-regulation of CPR and DBR2.