SHANGHAI, April 26 (Xinhua) -- A team of Chinese scientists has finished the genome sequencing of Artemisia annua, a plant known for producing the anti-malarial compound artemisinin that has saved millions of lives.
In 2015, China got its first Nobel laureate in medicine, with Chinese scientist Tu Youyou sharing the prize for discovering artemisinin.
The sequencing made by a team led by Tang Kexuan, professor at Shanghai Jiaotong University, will lead to the genetic engineering of the plant to increase the yield of artemisinin.
Tang's paper was published Tuesday in the journal "Molecular Plant."
Tang and his collaborators have spent five years on the project to generate a high-quality draft assembly of the 1.74 gigabase Artemisia annua genome, which contains 63,226 protein-coding genes.
The team made genetic modifications to increase the activities of the genes, boosting artemisinin levels in leaves from 0.1 percent of their dry weight to 3.2 percent.
Malaria kills over 400,000 people worldwide every year, according to the World Health Organization.
Artemisia, a shrub native to China, has been transplanted worldwide for producing anti-malarial drugs. However, artemisinin is still in shortage due to unstable supply.
Tang said the seeds of the genetically-modified new breed of Artemisia have been shipped to Madagascar for trial planting.
The professor said in the next step, the team will refer to Chinese traditional anti-malarial therapies to look for more useful compounds that work with artemisinin to treat the disease. It will also aim to develop dietary supplements with artemisinin for prevention against malaria.
Tang said the team also found that artemisinin had a blood fat reduction function, and could greatly reduce the toxic effect of the current major blood fat drugs to the liver.
