Cloning and characterization of the Plasmodium falciparum adenylosuccinate synthetase gene

摘要

Parasitic protozoa lack the de novo purine biosynthetic pathway and rely exclusively on the salvage pathway for their purine nucleotide requirements(1) Purine salvage enzymes are therefore potential chemotherapeutic targets, This paper reports the cloning and deduced amino acid sequence of Plasmodium falciparum adenylosuccinate synthetase (PfADSS), an enzyme involved in purine salvage. PfADSS exhibits 67% homology with that of the human enzyme. On expression in E. coli, enzymatically active ADSS was produced as deduced by functional complementation analysis. The PfADSS activity was shown to be inhibited by hadacidin, a known competitive inhibitor of this enzyme. [References: 38]