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. 2024 Feb 17;10(5):e26388.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e26388. eCollection 2024 Mar 15.

Comparison of phytochemical properties and expressional profiling of artemisinin synthesis-related genes in various Artemisia species

Bita Jamshidi  1 , Alireza Etminan  1 , Alimehras Mehrabi  1 , Lia Shooshtari  1 , Alireza Pour-Aboughadareh  2
Affiliations

Comparison of phytochemical properties and expressional profiling of artemisinin synthesis-related genes in various Artemisia species

Bita Jamshidi et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

The Artemisia genus belongs to the Asteraceae family and is used in the treatment of many different diseases such as hepatitis and cancer. So far, around 500 species of Artemisia have been found in different regions of the world. Artemisinin is one of the medicinal compounds found in Artemisia species. Hence, this medical feature encourages researchers to pay attention to various species of this genus to discover more genetic and phytochemical information. In the present study, five species of Artemisia including A. fragrans, A. annua, A. biennis, A. scoparia, and A. absinthium were compared to each other in terms of the artemisinin content and other phytochemical components. Moreover, the relative expression profiles of eight genes related to the accumulation and synthesis of artemisinin [including 4FPSF, DBR2, HMGR1, HMGR2, WIRKY, ADS, DXS, and SQS] were determined in investigated species. The result of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis showed that the content of artemisinin in various species was in the order of A. fragrans > A. annua > A. biennis > A. scoparia > A. absinthium. Based on the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis, 34, 26, 26, 24, and 20 phytochemical compounds were identified for A. scoparia, A. biennis, A. fragrans, A. absinthum, and A. annua species, respectively. Moreover, camphor (38.86%), β-thujone (68.42%), spathulenol (48.33%), β-farnesene (48.16%), and camphor (29.04%) were identified as the considerable compounds A. fragrans, A. absinthium, A. scoparia, A. biennis, and A. annua species, respectively. Considering the relative expression of the targeted genes, A. scoparia revealed higher expression for the 4FPSF gene. The highest relative expression of the DBR2, WIRKY, and SQS genes was found in A. absinthium species. Moreover, A. annua showed the highest expression of the ADS and DXS genes than the other species. In conclusion, our findings revealed that various species of Artemisia have interesting breeding potential for further investigation of different aspects such as medicinal properties and molecular studies.

Keywords: Artemisia; Artemisinin; Chromatography; Gene expression; Medicinal plants.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Artemisinin biosynthetic pathway. Art acid artemisinic acid, ADS amorpha-4, 11-diene synthase, CYP cytochrome P 450 CYP71AV1, DBR2 double bond reductase 2, Aldh1 aldehyde dehydrogenase 1, DXR 1-deoxyxylulouse 5-phosphate reductoisomerase, RED1 dihydroartemisinic aldehyde reductase 1, DXS 1-deoxyxylulose 5- phosphate synthase, FPS farnesyl diphosphate synthase, MEP nonmevalonate pathway, HMGR 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase, and HMG-CoA 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA [13].
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The HPLC chromatogram for the standard (A) and extracted samples for Artemisia species (B).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The artemisinin content in different Artemisia species. Different letters show significant differences among species at 0.01 the probability level.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Chromatograms of five different Artemisia species. (A) A. annua, (B) A. scoparia, (C) A. absinthium, (D) A. fragrans, and (E) A. biennis.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Chromatograms of five different Artemisia species. (A) A. annua, (B) A. scoparia, (C) A. absinthium, (D) A. fragrans, and (E) A. biennis.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Chromatograms of five different Artemisia species. (A) A. annua, (B) A. scoparia, (C) A. absinthium, (D) A. fragrans, and (E) A. biennis.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
The relative expression of genes including 4FPSF, DBR2, WIRKY, ADS, DXS, and SQS in different Artemisia species. Different letters show significant differences among species at 0.01 the probability level.
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