Molecular cloning of an aldehyde dehydrogenase implicated in artemisinin biosynthesis in Artemisia annuaThis paper is one of a selection of papers published in a Special Issue from the National Research Council of Canada – Plant Biotechnology Institute.

Limitations in the supply of the antimalarial compound artemisinin from Artemisia annua L. have led to an interest in understanding its biosynthesis and enhancing its production. Recent biochemical and molecular genetic data have implicated dihydroartemisinic aldehyde as a precursor to the corresponding acid, which is then converted to artemisinin. Thus, it is important to understand the enzyme or enzymes involved in dihydroartemisinic aldehyde oxidation. Given its activity on artemisinic aldehyde, the cytochrome P450 CYP71AV1 was investigated for its ability to oxidize dihydroartemisinic aldehyde. However, no net activity was detected. In a search for alternative enzymes that could catalyze the oxidation, an expressed sequence tag (EST) collection from A. annua was investigated for relevant cDNAs. This led to the isolation of a full-length cDNA encoding an aldehyde dehydrogenase homologue, named Aldh1, which is highly expressed in trichomes. Expression of the cDNA in E. coli and characterization of the purified recombinant enzyme revealed that the gene product catalyses the NAD(P)-dependent oxidation of the putative artemisinin precursors, artemisinic and dihydroartemsinic aldehydes, and a limited range of other aldehydes. The observed enzyme activity of Aldh1 and the expression pattern of the corresponding gene suggest a role in artemisinin biosynthesis in the glandular secretory trichomes of A. annua.