Light effects on artemisinin production
Jonathan Ryan Meredith · Digital WPI · 2004
Compared to constant light or darkness, transformed roots of Artemisia annua produce more biomass and more of the anti-cancer and anti-malarial terpenoid, artemisinin, when grown with a 12/12 photoperiod. This project sought to determine if this was a circadian response or a light stress response. Experiments were performed which suggest that the response is due to light stress, increasing artemisinin yield with a dark to low light intensity shift, and some agent is affecting the physical structure of the roots.