Protein kinases of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum: the kinome of a divergent eukaryote.

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. Eukaryotic protein kinases (ePKs) form a large family of enzymes with crucial roles in most cellular processes; hence malarial ePKS represent potential drug targets. We report an exhaustive analysis of the P. falciparum genomic database (PlasmoDB) aimed at identifying and classifying all ePKs in this organism.

Results

Using a variety of bioinformatics tools, we identified 65 malarial ePK sequences and constructed a phylogenetic tree to position these sequences relative to the seven established ePK groups. Predomina

SUBMITTER: Ward P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC526369 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature