Sci Pharm. 2009; 77: 87–95.
Biotransformation of Artemisinin Mediated through Fungal Strains for Obtaining Derivatives with Novel Activities
Suchita SRIVASTAVA 1, Suaib LUQMAN 1, Atiya FATIMA 2, Mahendra P. DAROKAR * 1, Arvind S. NEGI 2, J. K. KUMAR 2, K. SHANKER 2, Chandan S. CHANOTIYA 2, Sudeep TANDON 3, Suman P. S. KHANUJA 1
1 Genetic Resources and Biotechnology Division, Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), Lucknow–226015, India.
2 Analytical Chemistry Division, Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), Lucknow–226015, India.
3 Process and Product Development (Industrial Technology Centre), Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research), Lucknow–226015, India.
* Corresponding author. E-mail: mpdarokar@yahoo.com (M. P. Darokar).
Abstract
Artemisinin, a sesquiterpene lactone, is the active antimalarial constituent of Artemisia annua. Several fungal strains Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger and Picchia pastoris were used to biotransform artemisinin. Among these strains, A. flavus was the only microorganism capable of transforming artemisinin to deoxyartemisinin in higher yields than the previous reports. The structure of deoxyartemisinin was elucidated by spectroscopy. Deoxyartemisinin showed antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis and S. mutans at a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 1 mg/mL compared to artemisinin whose MIC was >2 mg/mL.
Keywords
Biotransformation • Artemisinin • Deoxyartemisinin • Aspergillus flavus • Antibacterial
Received March 19th, 2008 | Accepted January 7th, 2009 | Published Online January 8th, 2009
