Technology Opportunities

Transgenic tobacco plants developed to produce artemisinin

Highlights

• Artemisinins, produced from the traditional Chinese medicinal herb Artemisia annua (sweet wormwood), are the only class of drugs against malaria to which there is no known resistance.
• However, artemisinin levels in A. annua usually constitute only about 0.01% to 1% of the total dry weight of the plant, and since complete chemical synthesis of artemisinin is complex and inefficient, the drug is too expensive for most malaria sufferers in developing countries and is in short supply worldwide.
• The World Health Organisation promotes the use of artemisinin for malaria treatment and has been heavily involved in aiding in the development of artemisinin-based anti-malaria drugs.

Our Innovation

Development of transgenic tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum) for the biosynthesis of anti-malarial drug artemisinin

• FIGURE: Generation of the potent anti-malarial drug artemisinin in tobacco. The constructs (a) for engineering artemisinin production in tobacco (b). c) Extracted ion accurate mass chromatograms (UPLC-HR-MS) for artemisinin (m/z 283.1530) from engineered tobacco plants and control artemisinin-d3 (m/z 286.1733)

Key Features

• Only demonstration of artemisinin production outside of host organism.
• Authentic artemisinin accumulated in the engineered plants.
• Genetically engineered tobacco is easily cultivated.
• Efficient, low-cost system for producing artemisinin.

Development Milestones

Seeking industrial cooperation for drug development.

The Opportunity

• Globally, 247 million clinical episodes of malaria are estimated to occur every year
• Artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) has been recommended by WHO since 2001 as the first-line treatment for uncomplicated malaria