Assessment of Iranian endemic Artemisia khorassanica : karyological, genome size, and gene expressions involved in artemisinin production

Authors : Farokh HAMIDI, Ghasem KARIMZADEH, Sajad RASHIDI MONFARED, Maryam SALEHI

Pages : 329-340

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Publication Date : 2018-12-01

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :The species of Artemisia , one of the largest genera of the family Asteraceae, are frequently utilized for the treatment of diseases such as malaria, hepatitis, cancer, inflammation, and infections by fungi, bacteria, and viruses. Karyological studies were performed on 18 Artemisia khorassanica populations: eleven were diploid insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(2n = 18); and seven were tetraploid insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(2n = 36);. The mean chromosome lengths were 3.61 and 3.84 ?m for diploids and tetraploids, respectively. Two chromosome types insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(`m`, `sm`); formed karyotype formulas `18m` for diploids and `36m` and `34m + 2sm` for tetraploids. The mean 2C DNA contents were 5.91 and 11.53 pg in diploids and tetraploids, respectively. The transcription levels of key genes involved in artemisinin production were compared in diploid insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(B, D, H); and tetraploid insert ignore into journalissuearticles values(O, P, R); A. khorassanica relative to A. annua as a standard species. No artemisinin content was detected in diploid and tetraploid A. khorassanica populations. No significant differences were detected between diploids and tetraploids in terms of DXR, HMGR, FDS, and ADS gene expression. This implies that most of the genomic amplification likely occurs in the amount of repetitive DNA and not in unique sequences. The DBR2 gene was expressed in the diploid A. khorassanica in a low amount but silenced in the autotetraploid A. khorassanica .
Keywords : Artemisia khorassanica, artemisinin, chromosome, flow cytometry, gene expression, genome size