The protein-phosphatome of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Malaria, caused by the parasitic protist Plasmodium falciparum, represents a major public health problem in the developing world. The P. falciparum genome has been sequenced, which provides new opportunities for the identification of novel drug targets. We report an exhaustive analysis of the P. falciparum genomic database (PlasmoDB) aimed at identifying and classifying all protein phosphatases (PP) in this organism.

Results

Using a variety of bioinformatics tools, we identified 27 malarial putative PP sequences within the four major established PP families, plus 7 sequences that we predict to dephosphorylate "non-protein" substrates. We constructed phylogenetic trees to position these sequences relative to PPs from other organisms representing all major eukaryoti

SUBMITTER: Wilkes JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2559854 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature