News in Brief Plants

Genetically modified plant may boost supply of a powerful malaria drug

Researchers tripled the amount of artemisinin naturally produced by sweet wormwood

sweet wormwood plant

GREEN MEDICINE  Derived from sweet wormwood plants, the antimalarial compound artemisinin usually composes 0.1 to 1 percent of the dry weight of the leaves. New research more than triples a plant’s yield of artemisinin, to 3.2 percent.

Ton Rulkens/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

By Dan Garisto

- More than 2 years ago

Genetic modifications to a plant that makes artemisinin, a key compound used in malaria drugs, more than tripled the amount of the ingredient naturally produced in leaves.