Purine nucleoside phosphorylase from Schistosoma mansoni in complex with ribose-1-phosphate.

ABSTRACT: Schistosomes are blood flukes which cause schistosomiasis, a disease affecting approximately 200 million people worldwide. Along with several other important human parasites including trypanosomes and Plasmodium, schistosomes lack the de novo pathway for purine synthesis and depend exclusively on the salvage pathway for their purine requirements, making the latter an attractive target for drug development. Part of the pathway involves the conversion of inosine (or guanosine) into hypoxanthine (or guanine) together with ribose-1-phosphate (R1P) or vice versa. This inter-conversion is undertaken by the enzyme purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) which has been used as the basis for the development of novel anti-malarials, conceptually validating this approach. It has been suggested that, du

SUBMITTER: D'Muniz Pereira H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3004257 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature