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

Bita Jamshidi; Alireza Etminan; Alimehras Mehrabi; Lia Shooshtari; Alireza Pour-Aboughadareh

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e26388

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

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

Authors

Bita Jamshidi¹, Alireza Etminan¹, Alimehras Mehrabi¹, Lia Shooshtari¹, Alireza Pour-Aboughadareh²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Kermanshah Branch, Islamic Azad University, Kermanshah, Iran.
² Seed and Plant Improvement Institute, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Karaj, Iran.

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.