Pyrimidine salvage in Toxoplasma gondii as a target for new treatment.

ABSTRACT: Toxoplasmosis is a common protozoan infection that can have severe outcomes in the immunocompromised and during pregnancy, but treatment options are limited. Recently, nucleotide metabolism has received much attention as a target for new antiprotozoal agents and here we focus on pyrimidine salvage by Toxoplasma gondii as a drug target. Whereas uptake of [³H]-cytidine and particularly [³H]-thymidine was at most marginal, [³H]-uracil and [³H]-uridine were readily taken up. Kinetic analysis of uridine uptake was consistent with a single transporter with a K_m of 3.3 ± 0.8 µM, which was inhibited by uracil with high affinity (K_i = 1.15 ± 0.07 µM) but not by thymidine or 5-methyluridine, showing that the 5-Me group is incom

SUBMITTER: Elati HAA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10755004 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature