title: Artemisinin: current state and perspectives for biotechnological production of an antimalarial drug.
abstract: Artemisinin isolated from the aerial parts of Artemisia annua L. is a promising and potent antimalarial drug which has a remarkable activity against chloroquine-resistant and chloroquine-sensitive strains of Plasmodium falciparum, and is useful in treatment of cerebral malaria. Because the low content (0.01-1 %) of artemisinin in A. annua is a limitation to the commercial production of the drug, many research groups have been focusing their researches on enhancing the production of artemisinin in tissue culture or in the whole plant of A. annua. This review mainly focuses on the progresses made in the production of artemisinin from A. annua by biotechnological strategies including in vitro tissue culture, metabolic regulation of artemisinin biosynthesis, genetic engineering, and bioreactor technology.
authors.affiliation: National Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100080, People's Republic of China. czliu@home.ipe.ac.cn.|Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People's Republic of China. czliu@home.ipe.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Chunzhao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: National Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100080, People's Republic of China.|Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: National Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100080, People's Republic of China. ycwang45@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Yuchun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000962:Antimalarials / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D031172:Artemisia annua / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D037621:Artemisinins / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism*; D019149:Bioreactors; D001709:Biotechnology; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D005285:Fermentation; D012717:Sesquiterpenes / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism*; D013678:Technology, Pharmaceutical
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials; D037621:Artemisinins; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; C031327:artemisinin