title: PfalDB: an integrated drug target and chemical database for Plasmodium falciparum.
abstract: Plasmodium falciparum is one of the deadliest protozoan parasite species among those that cause malaria. Uncontrolled use of antimalarial drugs has resulted in evolutionary selection pressure favoring high levels of resistance to antimalarials; currently P.falciparum shows resistance to all classes of antimalarials. Therefore it is essential to identify novel drug targets, and design selective anti-malarials which can overcome resistance. While many drug targets are freely available in various public domain resources, a single comprehensive source of data containing easily searchable and retrievable information is currently lacking. To facilitate the total integration and mining of data emerging from different drug consortia and also to prioritize drug targets for structure-based drug design, an open-access, inclusive comprehensive database for Plasmodium falciparum was established. Meta data of known/modeled structures along with binding site parameters of drug targets have been included in the database. Additionally, chemical compounds showing a positive inhibitory assay against Plasmodium falciparum or known drug targets have also been provided. The database is accessible at http://pfaldb.jnu.ac.in. The database provides diverse information regarding the structure, sequence, stage specific gene expression, pathway, action mechanism, essentiality and druggability for each drug target, and literature to assess the validation status of individual drug targets. It also includes information on individual anti-malarials with their activity and bioassay.
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Nidhi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.forename: Lalit
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pant
authors.forename: Jay Prakash
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Indira
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.affiliation: School of Computational and Integrative Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi - 110067, India. nsrao@mail.jnu.ac.in.
authors.forename: Naidu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Subbarao
mesh_terms: D000962:Antimalarials / Q000494:pharmacology*; D062313:Databases, Pharmaceutical; D015195:Drug Design; D004351:Drug Resistance; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000188:drug therapy; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials