Identification and the potential involvement of miRNAs in the regulation of artemisinin biosynthesis in A. annua.

Micro RNAs (miRNAs) play crucial regulatory roles in multiple biological processes. Recently they have garnered the attention for their strong influence on the secondary metabolite production in plants. Their role in the regulation of artemisinin (ART) biosynthesis is, however, not fully elucidated. ART is a potent anti-malarial compound recommended by WHO for the treatment of drug-resistant malaria. It is produced by Artemisia annua (A. annua). The lower in planta content of ART necessitates a deep understanding of regulatory mechanisms involved in the biosynthesis of this metabolite. In this study, using modern high throughput small RNA-sequencing by Illumina Nextseq 500 platform for identification and stem-loop RT PCR for validation, miRNAs were identified in the leaf sample of A. annua plant. Here, we report a total of 121 miRNAs from A. annua that target several important genes and transcription factors involved in the biosynthesis of ART. This study revealed the presence of some important conserved miRNA families, miR396, miR319, miR399, miR858, miR5083 and miR6111 not identified so far in A. annua. The expression patterns and correlation between miRNAs and their corresponding targets at different developmental stages of the plant using real-time PCR indicate that they may influence ART accumulation. These findings thus, open new possibilities for the rational engineering of the secondary metabolite pathways in general and ART biosynthesis in particular.

Comparative study of withanolide production and the related transcriptional responses of biosynthetic genes in fungi elicited cell suspension culture of Withania somnifera in shake flask and bioreactor.

Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is one of the most reputed medicinal plants in the traditional medicinal system. In this study, cell suspension culture of W. somnifera was elicited with cell homogenates of fungi (A. alternata, F. solani, V. dahliae and P. indica) in shake flask and the major withanolides like withanolide A, withaferin A and withanone were analysed. Simultaneously expression levels of key pathway genes from withanolides biosynthetic pathways were also checked via quantitative PCR in shake flask as well as in bioreactor. The results show that highest gene expression of 10.8, 5.8, 4.9, and 3.3 folds were observed with HMGR among all the expressed genes in cell suspension cultures with cell homogenates of 3% P. indica, 5% V. dahliae, 3% A. alternata and 3% F. solani, respectively, in comparison to the control in shake flask. Optimized concentration of cell homogenate of P. indica (3% v/v) was added to the growing culture in 5.0-l bioreactor under optimized up-scaling conditions and harvested after 22 days. The genes of MVA, MEP and withanolides biosynthetic pathways like HMGR, SS, SE, CAS, FPPS, DXR and DXS were up-regulated by 12.5, 4.9, 2.18, 4.65, 2.34, 1.89 and 1.4 folds, respectively in bioreactor. The enhancement of biomass (1.13 fold) and withanolides [withanolide A (1.7), withaferin A (1.5), and withanone (1.5) folds] in bioreactor in comparison to shake flask was also found to be in line with the up-regulation of genes of withanolide biosynthetic pathways.

Efficient method for Agrobacterium mediated transformation of Artemisia annua L.

Artemisinin, a potent antimalarial natural products isolated from aerial parts of Artemisia annua L. Many patents have been reported that the demand for artemisinin is exponentially increasing year after year due to increased incidences of drug resistant malaria throughout the world. Leaf explants were used frequently as target tissue to generate transgenic of Artemisia. annua L. However, obtaining a large number of transgenic lines through out the year is a laborious and delicate process. To circumvent this, we have developed a highly efficient leaf explant based Agrobacterium mediated transformation of A. annua L. plant. The gus gene was used as screenable marker to assess and optimize the performance of T-DNA delivery. The age of explant, kind of bacterial inoculation, suspension duration, infection times and co-culture conditions were optimized. The co-culture was carried out with Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain EHA105 under desiccation condition in the dark at 25-28 0C for 2-4 days. Complete analysis of transgene insertion demonstrated that the optimized method of transformation from leaf explants of A. annua L. was efficient and highly reproducible.

Synthesis and bronchodilatory activity of some nitrogen bridgehead compounds.

A series of tricyclic nitrogen bridgehead compounds 7-22 have been synthesised and evaluated for their in vitro bronchodilatory activity using isolated guinea pig tracheal chain, precontracted with acetylcholine. The relaxant effect of 2,3,4,5-tetrahydroazepino[2,1-b]-8,9-dimethoxyquinazolin-11(1H)-one (7) (DPJ-386) was greater than that of theophylline, aminophylline and quinazoline derivative 3, which lacks methoxy groups at positions 8 and 9. Various nitrogen containing functionalities such as benzylamino, acetamido, benzamido and phthalimido were also introduced at 9 position of 3. This resulted in loss of relaxation activity in precontracted guinea pig tracheal chain. These results show that the better relaxation property possessed by compound 7 hydrochloride is due to methoxy groups at 8 and 9 positions.