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Sugars proportionately affect artemisinin production

  • Physiology and Biochemistry
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Abstract

Little is known about the effect of sugars in controlling secondary metabolism. In this study, sugars alone or in combination with their analogs were used to investigate their role in the production of the antimalarial drug, artemisinin, in Artemisia annua L. seedlings. Compared to sucrose, a 200% increase in artemisinin by glucose was observed. Different ratios of fructose to glucose yielded artemisinin levels directly proportional to increases in relative glucose concentration. When the glucose analog, 3-O-methylglucose, was added with glucose, artemisinin production was dramatically decreased, but hexokinase activity was significantly increased compared to glucose alone. In contrast, neither mannose nor mannitol had any significant effect on artemisinin yield. In comparison with 30 g/l sucrose, artemisinin levels were significantly reduced by 80% in the presence of 27 g/l sucrose + 3 g/l palatinose, which cannot be transported into cells through the sucrose transporter. Together these results suggest that both monosaccharide and disaccharide sugars are likely acting not only as carbon sources but also as signals to affect the downstream production of artemisinin, and that the mechanism of these effects appears to be complex.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to Peter Kast of WPI for some preliminary work, Dr. Reeta Prusty-Rao for critical review of the manuscript, Dr. Brandon Moore at Clemson University for his advice on HXK assays, and Dr. Jen Sheen at Harvard Medical School for her advice and generous gift of protease inhibitor. This work was supported in part by NIH #1 R15 GM 069562-01.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Rd, Worcester, MA, 01609, USA

    Y. Wang & P. J. Weathers

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  1. Y. Wang
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  2. P. J. Weathers
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Correspondence to P. J. Weathers.

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Communicated by D.A. Somers.

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Wang, Y., Weathers, P.J. Sugars proportionately affect artemisinin production. Plant Cell Rep 26, 1073–1081 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-006-0295-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-006-0295-2

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