Molecular cloning and characterization of CMK from Artemisia annua / 中国中药杂志

Artemisinin is a preferred medicine in the treatment of malaria. In this study, AaCMK, a key gene involved in the upstream pathway of artemisinin biosynthesis, was cloned and characterized from Artemisia annua for the first time. The full-length cDNA of AaCMK was 1 462 bp and contained an ORF of 1 197 bp that encoded a 399-anomo-acid polypeptide. Tissue expression pattern analysis showed that AaCMK was expressed in leaves, flowers, roots and stems, but with higher expression level in glandular secretory trichomes. In addition, the expression of AaCMK was markedly increased after MeJA treatment. Subcellular localization showed that the protein encoded by AaCMK was localized in chloroplast. Overexpression of AaCMK in Arabidopsis increased the contents of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoids. These results suggest that AaCMK plays an important role in the biosynthesis of terpenoids in A. annua and this research provids a candidate gene that could be used for engineering the artemisinin biosynthesis.

Molecular cloning and functional characterization of the gene encoding hydroxy-2-methyl-2-(E)-butenyl 4-diphosphate reductase gene from Artemisia annua L / 药学学报

Artemisinin is the first choice for malaria treatment. The plastidial MEP pathway provides 5-carbon precursors (IPP and its isomer DMAPP) for the biosynthesis of isoprenoid (including artemisinin). Hydroxy-2-methyl-2-(E)-butenyl 4-diphosphate reductase (HDR) is the last enzyme involved in the MEP pathway, which catalyzes HMBPP to form IPP and DMAPP. In this study, we isolated the full-length cDNA of HDR from Artemisia annua L. (AaHDR2) and performed functional analysis. According to gene expression analysis of AaHDR2 (GenBank:KX058541) and AaHDR1 reported ever (GenBank:ADC84348.1) by qPCR, we found that AaHDR1 and AaHDR2 had much higher expression level in trichomes than that in roots, stems, leaves and flowers. AaHDR2 had much higher expression level in flowers than that in leaves. Further, the plant hormones such as MeJA and ABA respectively up-regulated the expression level of AaHDR1 and AaHDR2 significantly, but GA3 up-regulated the expression level of AaHDR2 only. The gene expression analysis of AaHDR1 and AaHDR2 showed that AaHDR2 had a greater contribution than AaHDR1 to isoprenoid biosynthesis (including artemisinin). We used AaHDR2 for the following experiments. Bioinformatic analysis indicated that AaHDR2 belonged to the HDR family and the functional complementation assay showed that AaHDR2 did have the enzymatic function of HDR, using E. coli mutant MG1655araHDR as host cell. The subcellular localization assay showed that AaHDR2 fused with GFP at its N-terminal specifically targeted in chloroplasts. Finally, AaHDR2 was overexpressed in Arabidopsis thaliana. The AaHDR2-overexpressing plants produced the isoprenoids including chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoids at significantly higher levels than the wild-type Arabidopsis plants. In summary, AaHDR2 might be a candidate gene for genetic improvement of the isoprenoid biosynthesis.

Molecular cloning and characterization of the 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate cytidylyltransferase gene from Artemisia annua L / 药学学报

The plastidial methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway provides 5-carbon precursors to the biosynthesis of isoprenoid (including artemisinin). 2-C-Methyl-D-erythritol-4-phosphate cytidylyltransferase (MCT) is the third enzyme of the MEP pathway, which catalyzes 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol-4-phosphate to form 4-(cytidine 5'-diphospho)-2-C-methyl-D-erythritol. The full-length MCT cDNA sequence (AaMCT) was cloned and characterized for the first time from Artemisia annua L. Analysis of tissue expression pattern revealed that AaMCT was highly expressed in glandular secretory trichome and poorly expressed in leaf, flower, root and stem. AaMCT was found to be a methyl jasmonate (MeJA)-induced genes, the expression of AaMCT was significantly increased after MeJA treatment. Subcellular localization indicated that the GFP protein fused with AaMCT was targeted specifically in chloroplasts. The transgenic plants of Arabidopsis thaliana with AaMCT overexpression exhibited a significantly increase in the content of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoids, demonstrating that AaMCT kinase plays an influential role in isoprenoid biosynthesis.

Enhancement of artemisinin biosynthesis in transgenic Artemisia annua L. by overexpressed HDR and ADS genes / 药学学报

Artemisnin is a novel sesquiterpene lactone with an internal peroxide bridge structure, which is extracted from traditional Chinese herb Artemisia annua L. (Qinghao). Recommended by World Health Organization, artemisinin is the first-line drug in the treatment of encephalic and chloroquine-resistant malaria. In the present study, transgenic A. annua plants were developed by overexpressing the key enzymes involved in the biosynthetic pathway of artemisinin. Based on Agrobacterium-mediated transformation methods, transgenic plants of A. annua with overexpression of both HDR and ADS were obtained through hygromycin screening. The genomic PCR analysis confirmed six transgenic lines in which both HDR and ADS were integrated into genome. The gene expression analysis given by real-time quantitative PCR showed that all the transgenic lines had higher expression levels of HDR and ADS than the non-transgenic control (except ah3 in which the expression level of ADS showed no significant difference compared with control); and the HPLC analysis of artemisinin demonstrated that transgenic A. annua plants produced artemisinin at significantly higher level than non-transgenic plants. Especially, the highest content of artemisinin was found in transgenic line ah70, in which the artemisinin content was 3.48 times compared with that in non-transgenic lines. In summary, overexpression of HDR and ADS facilitated artemisinin biosynthesis and this method could be applied to develop transgenic plants of A. annua with higher yield of artemisinin.