Abstract: Artemisinin is a novel effective antimalarial drug extracted from the medicinal plant Artemisia annua L. Owing to the tight market and low yield of artemisinin, there is great interest in enhancing the production of artemisinin. In the present study, farnesyl diphosphate synthase (FPS) was overexpressed in high-yield A. annua to increase the artemisinin content. The FPS activity in transgenic A. annua was two- to threefold greater than that in non-transgenic A. annua. The highest artemisinin content in transgenic A. annua was approximately 0.9% (dry weight), which was 34.4% higher than that in non-transgenic A. annua. The results demonstrate the regulatory role of FPS in artemisinin biosynthesis.(Author for correspondence.Tel:010-62836249; Fax:010-82591016; E-mail:hcye@ibcas.ac.cn)

Key words: Artemisia annua, artemisinin, artemisinin content, farnesyl diphosphate synthase, overexpression.