Enhanced Photosynthesis and Carbon Metabolism Favor Arsenic Tolerance in Artemisia annua, a Medicinal Plant as Revealed by Homology-Based Proteomics

Table 1

Effect of As on various morphological and physiological parameters including, plant height, flowering time, number of inflorescences/plant, number of branches/inflorescence, number of capitula/inflorescence, capitula size, florets distance in whorl, number of florets/capitulum, number of oil glands, and artemisinin and anthocyanin contents in A. annua plants. Measurements were conducted under natural conditions when plants were 8-month old.

Characters	Control		100 μM		150 μM
Mature plant height (m)	1.4±0.04^a		1.2±0.02^a		1.1±0.09^a
Time of first flower	30-31 weeks		28-29 weeks		22−24 weeks
Number of inflorescence/plant	28±1.02^a		27±1.34^ab		24±0.98^c
Number of branches/inflorescence	23±1.1^a		21±1.1^a		18±1.4^b
Number of capitula/inflorescence	20±1.02^b		32±0.98^a		33±1.04^a
Capitula size (mm)	4.3±0.95^c		5.1±0.76^b		5.4±0.01^a
Distance of florets in involucre whorl (mm)	1.1±0.004^a		1.0±0.01^a		0.8±0.003^b
Florets/capitulum	Ray = 13	Disc = 35	Ray = 16	Disc = 45	Ray = 17	Disc = 55
Artemisinin content (mg/100 g DW)	0.39±0.02^a		0.46±1.02^a		0.52±0.02^a
Number of oil glands/florets	5±0.05^c		7±0.09^b		9.9±0.01^a
Anthocyanin content (μmol g^−1 FW)	0.06±0.01^a		0.07±0.06^a		0.12±0.09^a
Biomass (DW g plant^−1)	241±4.5^b		267.0±5.2^a		221±5.0^c

All values are mean ± SD (𝑛=3). Different letters show significantly different values (𝑃<0.05, DMRT).