Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 1000142 J Glycomics Lipidomics, an open access journal ISSN: 2153-0637 Research Article Open Access Journal of Glycomics & Lipidomics J o u r n a l o f G l y c o m i c s & L i p i d o m i c s ISSN: 2153-0637 Koul et al., J Glycomics Lipidomics 2017, 7:1 DOI: 10.4172/2153-0637.1000142 Keywords: Anti-malarial; Artemisinin; Herbal drugs; Mugwort; Secondary metabolites Abbreviation 2,4-D: 2, 4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, AA: ascorbic acid, AIDS: acquired immune defciency syndrome, BAP: 6-benzyl amino purine, BC: before the Christ’s birth, cm: centimetre, DPPH: 1,1-Diphenyl-2 picrylhydrazyl radical-scavenging activity, g: gram, FRAP: ferric reducing antioxidant power, HCl: hydrochloric acid, HPLC: high performance liquid chromatography, HPTLC: high performance thin layer chromatography, IAA: indole 3-acetic acid, KN: kinetin, μM: micromolar, mg: milligrams, ml: millilitre, MS: Murashige and Skoog, MTCC: Microbial Type Culture Collection and Gene Bank, NAA: α-naphthalene acetic acid, TCM: Traditional Chinese medicine. Introduction Te dependence of human being on plant kingdom for food, fodder, fuel and medicinal purposes is as old as the existence of human on this planet. Plant kingdom is a reservoir of valuable medicinal fora and the use of these plants to cure various diseases can be dated back to 1500 BC. Te use of herbs for various purposes is also mentioned in the ancient Hindu texts: Charaka Samhita (1000–800 BC), Rigveda (4500– 1600 BC), Sushruta Samhita (800–700 BC) and others (Pal and Jain, 1998) Diferent medicinal systems such as Siddha, Buddha, Ayurveda, traditional Chinese 51 medicine (TCM) etc. shall remain the unending treasures of knowledge on medicinal herbs [1-3]. In the ancient time, the knowledge of plants for their medicinal value was confned to tribal communities, villagers and priests, but in the modern era, the popularity and faith in the power of herbal drugs have become widespread. Indeed, the knowledge of herbal medicines were identifed by a community, practised, and heirloomed to the successive generation [4]. Although several synthetic drugs are available to treat various diseases and disorders but, they are not free from side-efects [5]. On the other hand, there is an increasing demand of the herbal medicines as they are safe, efective, economical, eco-friendly and free from deleterious efects. It has been observed that more than sixty percent of the commercially important drugs are obtained from plant sources and a large portion of the world population is dependent on them for their primary healthcare [6]. Moreover, herbal remedies also provide a cure for certain age-related diseases such as memory loss, immunity related diseases, osteoporosis etc. Tese days, there are several clinical reports available where natural drugs have shown their promising potential to cure fatal diseases like AIDS, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and renal disorders. Herbs are a tremendous source of secondary metabolites which protect them against microbes, birds and animals, and attract the plant pollinators too [7]. Several secondary metabolites have proved to be very useful for the production of pharmaceutical drugs for human healthcare. Extensive analysis of the phytochemistry of the genus Artemisia has led to the identifcation of various biochemically active secondary metabolites including essential oils, favonoids, terpenes, esters, and fatty acids. Efcacy trials of these bioactive compounds shall lead to the development of novel herbal drugs for betterment of human health [8]. Artemisia is a widespread genus which encompasses more than 400 species (~474) and is revered as ‘Worm wood’, ‘Mug word’, ‘Sagebrush’ or ‘Tarragon’ [8,9].Tis genus belongs to the family Asteraceae, sometimes recognized as ‘compositae family’, ‘sunfower family’, ‘thistle family’ or ‘daisy family’. Te word ‘Artemisia’ comes from the ancient Greek word: ‘Artemis’=Te Goddess (the Greek Queen Artemisia) and ‘absinthium’=Unenjoyable or without sweetness. Te word ‘Wormwood’ is infuenced by the traditional use as a cure for intestinal worms. Most of the Artemisia species are perennial, biannual, annual herbaceous ornamental, medicinal and aromatic plant or shrubs. Tey are silver green, dark green or blue-green in colour, possess pungent smell and bitter taste due to presence of terpenoids and sesquiterpene lactones [10]. Some species are cultivated as crops while others are *Corresponding author: Indraneel Sanyal, CSIR, National Botanical Research Institute, Plant Transgenic Laboratory, P.O. Box 436, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow-226001, UP, Inida. E-mail: i_sanyal@rediffmail.com. Received August 11, 2017; Accepted October 27, 2017; Published October 31, 2017 Citation: Koul B, Taak P, Kumar A, Khatri T, Sanyal I (2017) The Artemisia Genus: A Review on Traditional Uses, Phytochemical Constituents, Pharmacological Properties and Germplasm Conservation. J Glycomics Lipidomics 7: 142. doi: 10.4172/2153-0637.1000142 Copyright: © 2017 Koul B, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The Artemisia Genus: A Review on Traditional Uses, Phytochemical Constituents, Pharmacological Properties and Germplasm Conservation Bhupendra Koul 1 , Pooja Taak 1 , Anil Kumar 3 , Taslimahemad Khatri 2 and Indraneel Sanyal 3* 1 School of Bioengineering and Biosciences, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara-144411, Punjab, India 2 School of Chemical Engineering and Physical Sciences, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara-144411, Punjab, India 3 CSIR, National Botanical Research Institute, Plant Transgenic Laboratory, P.O. Box 436, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow-226 001, UP, India Abstract Artemisia, being the largest and widely distributed genus of the plant family Asteraceae encompasses more than 400 species. Some popular species are reported to possess several medicinal properties owing to the rich phytochemical diversity. Altogether, eight thirty-nine chemical constituents including volatile and non-volatile compounds in these species are listed together with their references. These have been categorized into phenylpropanoids, favonoids, terpenes, sterols, lignans, phenolics, fatty acids, fatty esters hydrocarbons and miscellaneous compounds, many of which are responsible for various biological activities such as analgesic, anti-parasitic, anti-infammatory, hypolipidemic, anti- nociceptive, anti-microbial, anti-oxidant, hepato-protective, antiulcerogenic, anti-malarial, anti-leishmanial, anti-cancer, anti-tumor, anti-diabetic, anticonvulsant, anti-promastigote, anti-convulsant, anxiolytic and anti-depressant. The traditional uses and recent advances in the feld of phytochemistry of selected Artemisia species and their respective medicinal, insecticidal and nutritional properties, for the period up to 2017, are assessed and compiled in this paper. Meticulous phytochemical and pharmacological studies on Artemisia species and their sustainable conservation will yield reliable molecules of pharmacological importance, for better healthcare.