ABSTRACT
Plasmodium is dependent on glycolysis for ATP production. The glycolytic enzyme glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (G3PDH) plays an important role in glycolysis and is, therefore, a potential target for antimalarial drug development. The g3pdh gene of nine Plasmodium species was sequenced from genomic DNA and the type and origin determined by phylogenetic analysis. Substitutions were analyzed over a wide phylogenetic spectrum in relation to the known three-dimensional structures of the P. falciparum and human proteins. Substitutions were found within the functional domains (Rossman NAD+-binding and catalytic domains). A number of replacements within the adenosyl-binding surfaces were found to be conserved within the Chromoalveolates, others in the Apicomplexa, and still others within the genus Plasmodium, all of which were different from the human sequence. These sites may prove to be of functional importance and provide insights for drug-targeting studies, as have other regions examined in Leishmania and Toxoplasma G3PDH research.
