The use of Artemisia tea and occurrence of single nucleotide polymorphisms in the PfATPase6 gene

The herb Artemisia annua L. was used in ancient Chinese medicine to treat malaria and fevers. In a Ugandan community (Wagagai flower farm) located at the shores of Lake Victoria in Entebbe Municipality, tea infused with dried leaves of this herb (Artemisia tea) is drank by employees. The effect of drinking Artemisia on changes (single nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs) in Plasmodium falciparum candidate resistance genes is not known. This study therefore investigated the use of Artemisia tea and the occurrence of SNPs in the PfATPase6 gene. A section of the PfATPase6 gene of 1940 bps was amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the amplicons purified, followed by sequencing. Using CLC MainWorkBench software, the sequences were aligned and with P. falciparum 3D7 as reference sequence, SNPs were manually inspected in the sequences (n=17). Single nucleotide polymorphisms were observed at two positions from the 17 sequences: SNP T1707A occurring in 2/17 (11.8%) of the sequences and SNP T2694A in (10/17) 58.8% of them. This study identified two SNPs in the PfATPase6 gene of P. falciparum isolates obtained from employees of Wagagai flower farm who were using Artemisia tea to protect themselves against malaria. However, based on studies done elsewhere, these SNPs where not associated with artemisinin resistance.