Agrobacterium rhizogenes mediated transformation of Artemisia annua: Production of transgenic plants

Transgenic hairy roots were induced in the leaves of Artemisia annua by treatment with the LBA 9402 strain of Agrobacterium rhizogenes. The axenic hairy root cultures were found to produce the sesquiterpenes artemisinic acid and arteannuin B. The hairy root cultures were observed to spontaneously regenerate into plantlets on solid hormone-free MS medium. The regenerated plants had phenotypic characteristics typical to the transformed plants. Among the plants of the age of one month in culture, the transgenic plant was bigger (2.643 g/plant) than the normal (0.856 g/plant). Both these kinds of in vitro plants carried sesquiterpenes-artemisinic acid and arteannuin B.