1 Department of Fundamental Pharmaceutical Sciences, Discipline of Pharmaceutical Botany, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences and Technology of Tîrgu Mureș, Romania
Artemisia annua is an important medical plant that produces artemisinin used for its antimalarial, antibacterial and antifungal effects in modern medicine. The high demand and low artemisinin content in plants (0.01-2 %) has led to studies about alternative methods to increase yield. Biofertilizers (beneficial microbes and/or biological products that colonize roots, improve plant nutrition and growth) have been reported affecting secondary metabolism and the production of active ingredients of herbs. The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the current status of the research on mutualistic and endophytic microorganism of A. annua that have the potential to increase the quality and quantity of the crude drugs, derived from the herb. Scientific papers in this field focus on the effects on inoculation with different microorganisms (arbuscular micorrhizal fungi, endophytic bacteria and fungi) and the isolation of endophytes from A. annua. Bioinoculants can affect biomass, artemisinin and essential oil concentration, disease resistance, nutrient status, phosphatase activity, foliar glandular trichome density, leaf chlorophyll content, guaiacol peroxidase enzyme concentration, stomatal conductance and transpiration rate, and plant growth parameters (total weight, leaf yield, height, seed yield). The endophytes isolated from the plant are potential artemisinin content and plant stress resistance enhancers.