Banat s Journal of Biotechnology Contact: web: http://www.bjbabe.ro, e–mail: bjb@usab_tm.ro 82 IMPROVEMENT OF ARTEMISININ PRODUCTION BY DIFFERENT BIOTIC ELICITORS IN Artemisia annua BY ELICITATION–INFILTRATION METHOD DOI: 10.7904/2068–4738–VII(13)–82 Sona Ayadi HASSAN 1* , Tayebeh SOLEIMANI 2 1 Department of biotechnology, Faculty of advanced sciences and technologies, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, IRAN, 2 Department of biology, Faculty of biological sciences, University of Nourdanesh institute of higher education, Meymeh, IRAN, *Corresponding author: sonaayadi@rocketmail.com Abstract. Artemisinin, a sesquiterpene lactone; is one of the most well–known secondary metabolites with multi–functional therapeutic effects which is isolated from Artemisia annua. Due to low levels of artemisinin in this plant, efforts are being made to optimize its production by various strategies such as elicitation–infiltration. This is a procedure in which, elicitors are injected to the plants by fine–needles directly. In this study, we identified the effect of bacterial and fungal elicitors on artemisinin level and biomass accumulation in A. annua. Artemisinin content was measured by high performance thin layer chromatography. The maximum level of artemisinin was accomplished by injection of 0.4 mg total sugar/ml F. oxysporum and B. cereus decreased artemisinin content in comparison to the controls. 1 McFarland S. aureus was the most successful elicitor, increasing the fresh weight 1.34 fold over the controls. Keyword: artemisinin, elicitor, elicitation–infiltration, secondary metabolite. Introduction Since ancient times, the plant– derived chemicals were a significant source for pharmaceuticals [SHAKERAN et al., 2015] . Many active constituents of medicinal, commercial and poisonous of plants belong to secondary metabolites. Terpenes or terepnoids are one of the classes of secondary metabolites which are built of isoprene units. Sesquiterpenoid lactones are biologically active secondary metabolites of plants of Compositae family [HANDON et al., 2003] . Artemisinin, a sesquiterpene lactone containing an endoperoxide bridge is isolated from Artemisia anuua L. plants. This compound is effective against both drug–resistant and cerebral malaria causing strains of Plasmodium falciparum, different cancers and viruses [ NAKASE et al., 2008, EFFERTH et al., 2008, ABDIN et al., 2003] . The low production (0.01–0.8%) of artemisinin in A. annua is the main obstacle to the commercialization of the drug. Therefore, various studies have been conducted to enhance the yield of this invaluable compound either in cell/tissue culture or in the whole plant of A. annua [ABDIN et al., 2003] . Since the discovery of this drug, different studies have been carried out to overcome to the low yield of artemisinin, including: hairy root induction, semi– biosynthetic pathway, cell suspension culture and genetic engineering [WEATHERS et al., 1994, DIETRICH et al., 2009, VARMA et al., 2009, CHEN et al., 1999] . Elicitor is a scientific term which is applied for stress factors that triggers the defense mechanisms by direct or indirect routs. Elicitation is described as the most feasible method for enhancing the production of desirable secondary metabolites from cell, organ and plant systems [GEOL et al., 2009] . Furthermore, elicitors improve the release of metabolites in the medium [SHAKERAN et al., 2015] . They are classified in two categories: Abiotic and biotic. Abiotic do not have biological origins and are comprised of two groups: physical factors (thermal stress, wounding, etc.) and chemical substances (heavy metal salts, vanadyl sulphate VOSO4, etc.) [VASCONSUELO et al., 2007] . Biotic elicitors are originated from organisms that include polysaccharides from plant cell walls (pectin, cellulose,