Recurrent Selection for Breeding High Artemisinin Containing Genotypes of Artemisia annua

Artemisia annua plant is a source of sesquiterpene lactone, artemisinin. Artemisinin is the WHO recognised drug used as an antimalarial. Artemisinin and its derivatives are also found to be effective against schistosomiasis and in cancer. Artemisia annua is a cross pollinated crop and consists of heterogenous mixture of individuals having distinct genotypes. Variability in the artemisinin content among natural population of A. Annua has been investigated. Content of artemisinin is highly variable and ranges from 0.01% upto 1.4%. Sesquiterpene lactone is found to be genotype and tissue specific and there is a need to select A. Annua variants for breeding high artemisinin containing plants. Recurrent selection cycle for A. Annua was adopted with the objective of improving artemisinin content in the source population. The study shows that artemisinin content in the population of A.annua plants can be improved by repeated cycles of selection.