Dear Editor,

Artemisinin, which has potent antimalarial properties, is a sesquiterpene endoperoxide originally isolated from the traditional Chinese medicinal plant Artemisia annua. However, the artemisinin content in wild-type (WT) A. annua is low (1–10 mg/g dry weight), leading to its erratic supply and price fluctuations [1]. Recent advances in synthetic biology tools have enabled researchers to engineer several species, including Nicotiana benthamiana and Physcomitrella patens to produce artemisinin [2, 3]. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, only high-yielding production of the precursor of artemisinin, artemisinic acid (AA), has been achieved, while the synthesis of artemisinin still strictly depends on semi-chemical methods [4]. Meanwhile, current artemisinin production using heterologous expression systems is limited and far from meeting global demand, and A. annua remains its primary commercial source [5].

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