Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
11
pubmed:dateCreated
2010-12-2
pubmed:abstractText
Resistance to chloroquine of malaria strains is known to be associated with a parasite protein named PfCRT, the mutated form of which is able to reduce chloroquine accumulation in the digestive vacuole of the pathogen. Whether the protein mediates extrusion of the drug acting as a channel or as a carrier and which is the protonation state of its chloroquine substrate is the subject of a scientific debate. We present here an analytical approach that explores which combination of hypotheses on the mechanism of transport and the protonation state of chloroquine are consistent with available equilibrium experimental data. We show that the available experimental data are not, by themselves, sufficient to conclude whether the protein acts as a channel or as a transporter, which explains the origin of their different interpretation by different authors. Interestingly, though, each of the two models is only consistent with a subset of hypotheses on the protonation state of the transported molecule. The combination of these results with a sequence and structure analysis of PfCRT, which strongly suggests that the molecule is a carrier, indicates that the transported species is either or both the mono and di-protonated forms of chloroquine. We believe that our results, besides shedding light on the mechanism of chloroquine resistance in P. falciparum, have implications for the development of novel therapies against resistant malaria strains and demonstrate the usefulness of an approach combining systems biology strategies with structural bioinformatics and experimental data.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:issn
1932-6203
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Electronic
pubmed:volume
5
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
e14064
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed-meshheading:21124966-Algorithms, pubmed-meshheading:21124966-Amebicides, pubmed-meshheading:21124966-Amino Acid Sequence, pubmed-meshheading:21124966-Animals, pubmed-meshheading:21124966-Biological Transport, pubmed-meshheading:21124966-Carbonyl Cyanide p-Trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone, pubmed-meshheading:21124966-Chloroquine, pubmed-meshheading:21124966-Drug Resistance, pubmed-meshheading:21124966-Humans, pubmed-meshheading:21124966-Ionophores, pubmed-meshheading:21124966-Malaria, Falciparum, pubmed-meshheading:21124966-Membrane Transport Proteins, pubmed-meshheading:21124966-Models, Biological, pubmed-meshheading:21124966-Models, Molecular, pubmed-meshheading:21124966-Molecular Sequence Data, pubmed-meshheading:21124966-Mutation, pubmed-meshheading:21124966-Plasmodium falciparum, pubmed-meshheading:21124966-Protein Conformation, pubmed-meshheading:21124966-Protons, pubmed-meshheading:21124966-Protozoan Proteins, pubmed-meshheading:21124966-Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
pubmed:year
2010
pubmed:articleTitle
On the mechanism of chloroquine resistance in Plasmodium falciparum.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Biochemical Sciences, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't