High efficiency of genetic transformation and regeneration of Artemisia annua L. via Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated procedure

Artemisinin is a new effective antimalarial drug extracted from the medicinal plant Artemisia annua L. There is a great interest in enhancing the production of artemisinin by means of transgenic plants. In this work, experiments with different combinations of hormone concentration were performed to obtain higher frequency of shoot and root induction. In particular, the factors influencing A. tumefaciens-mediated transformation of A. annua were explored to optimize the transformation system, which included A. tumefaciens strain, plant genotype, preculture period, composition of infection bacterium suspension, methods of co-cultivation, and co-cultivation period. Finally, a system of high efficiency of genetic transformation and regeneration of A. annua was established. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.