Effects of some Elicitors on Artemisinin Production in Artemisia annua Plant

Artemisinin, a secondary metabolite, is produced by Artemisia annua L. plant and is nowadays, the most effective drug in the treatment of malaria. This component and its derivatives are also used against hepatitis B and different types of cancers. Chemical synthesis of artemisinin is possible but because of its complex structure and low yield, it is not economically feasible. Since this plant serves as the only commercial source of artemisinin production while also producing it at very low levels, efforts to increase the production source of this valuable drug are indispensable. In this study, the effects of four hormones namely: gibberellic acid (GA3), cytokinin(2-iP), methyl jasmonate(MeJA) and salicylic acid(SA) on artemisinin production were studied at different time points following treatments. It was observed that MeJA had the highest positive effect on artemisinin production as compared to the other three hormones, and in a descending order of effect there stood 2-iP, SA, and GA3. Therefore, due to the more provoking and uniformly increasing effects on artemisinin content throughout the study, MeJA is a proved to be a promising and suitable candidate for further studies in field applications.