Artemisinin production by transformed roots of Artemisia annua

Summary Transformed root cultures of several strains of Artemisia annua were obtained by infection with Agrobacterium rhizogenes ATCC 15834. Production of artemisinin, measured by HPLC, ranged from 0–0.42 % of dry weight (DW) in 10 different clones. Artemistene, artemisinic acid, and arteannuin B were also measured. Comparisons to literature reports suggest that the commercial production of artemisinic compounds using transformed roots is feasible.