Transgenic tobacco can be used to produce artemisinin

Artemisinin, discovered by Chinese pharmacists Tu Yu and others, has become the most effective drug for the treatment of malaria. At present, most pharmaceutical companies extract artemisinin from Artemisia annua, but the planting area of ​​Artemisia annua is limited, which makes it difficult to meet the needs of malaria patients worldwide.

In response, German researchers attempted to use the transgenic technology to transfer the artemisinic acid-related genes in Artemisia annua L. to the genome of tobacco chloroplasts, allowing tobacco chloroplasts to acquire the ability to synthesize artemisinic acid. Since the leaves of tobacco are large and the chloroplasts are spread over the leaves, more artemisinic acid can be extracted, and then artemisinin can be synthesized by simple chemical methods.