Transient expression of transcription factors belonging to WRKY and MYB family and two enzymes DBR2 and OPR3 in two Artemisia annua chemotypes (ANAMED and Iranian wild type) in order to increase the artemisinin

Artemisia annua is an annual herb native to Asia most probably China produce one of the most important sesquiterpene namely artemisinin which has antimalarial and anticancer activity. Three transcription factors belonging to WRKY family, two transcription factors belonging to MYB family and two enzymes DBR2 and OPR3 were isolated from A. annua leaves and first inserted into pJET1.2 vector then sub cloned into cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV) based viral vector (pEAQ-HT). Thegenes were transiently expressed in A. annua young leaves of two different chemotypes ANAMED and Iranian wild type under the control of a constitutive cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter as vacuum infiltration. An agroinfitration method was carried out for transient expression of different genes. The analysis of metabolites by GC-MS method showed that the transcription factors which have expressed transiently, could effect on the rate of DHAA and AA metabolites. The results show that the TFs (WRKY and MYB) are involved in artemisinin biosynthesis pathway.