Amjad M. Husaini

Overexpression of the HMG-CoA Reductase Gene Leads to Enhanced Artemisinin Biosynthesis in Transgenic Artemisia annua Plants

An effective and affordable treatment against malaria is still a challenge for medicine. Most contemporary drugs either are too expensive to produce or are not effective against resistant strains of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. The plant Artemisia annua L. is the source of artemisinin, an effective drug against malaria for which no resistant strains of the bacterium have been reported. However, the artemisinin content of A. annua is very low, which makes its production expensive. Here we report the use of transgenic technology to increase the artemisinin content of A. annua. We report the production of transgenic plants of A. annua into which we transferred 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA reductase (HMGR) gene from Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don using Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer technology. Transgene integration and copy number were assessed by PCR and Southern hybridization, which confirmed the stable integration of multiple copies of the transgene in 7 different transgenic lines of A. annua. The leaf tissue of three of the A. annua transgenic lines possessed significantly higher HMGR activity compared with wild-type controls, and this activity was associated exclusively with microsomal membranes. The artemisinin content of the shoots of one of the transgenic lines depicted an increase of 22.5 % artemisinin content compared with wild-type control A. annua plants.

SSR based genetic diversity of pigmented and aromatic rice ( Oryza sativa L.) genotypes of the western Himalayan region of India

A set of 24 of SSR markers were used to estimate the genetic diversity in 16 rice genotypes found in Western Himalayas of Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, India. The level of polymorphism among the genotypes of rice was evaluated from the number of alleles and PIC value for each of the 24 SSR loci. A total of 68 alleles were detected across the 16 genotypes through the use of these 24 SSR markers The number of alleles per locus generated varied from 2 (RM 338, RM 452, RM 171) to 6 (RM 585, RM 249, RM 481, RM 162). The PIC values varied from 0.36 (RM 1) to 0.86 (RM 249) with an average of 0.62 per locus. Based on information generated, the genotypes got separated in six different clusters. Cluster 1 comprised of 4 genotypes viz; Zag 1, Zag 13, Pusa sugandh 3, and Zag 14, separated from each other at a similarity value of 0.40. Cluster second comprised of 3 landraces viz; Zag 2. Zag 4 and Zag10 separated from each other at a similarity value of 0.45. Cluster third comprised of 3 genotypes viz; Grey rice, Mushk budji and Kamad separated from each other at a similarity value of 0.46. Cluster fourth had 2 landraces viz; Kawa kreed and Loual anzul, and was not sub clustered. Fifth cluster had 3 genotypes viz; Zag 12, Purple rice and Jhelum separated from each other at a similarity value of 0.28. Cluster 6 comprised of a single popular variety i.e. Shalimar rice 1 with independent lineage.