title: Exploiting unique structural and functional properties of malarial glycolytic enzymes for antimalarial drug development.
abstract: Metabolic enzymes have been known to carry out a variety of functions besides their normal housekeeping roles known as "moonlighting functions." These functionalities arise from structural changes induced by posttranslational modifications and/or binding of interacting proteins. Glycolysis is the sole source of energy generation for malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, hence a potential pathway for therapeutic intervention. Crystal structures of several P. falciparum glycolytic enzymes have been solved, revealing that they exhibit unique structural differences from the respective host enzymes, which could be exploited for their selective targeting. In addition, these enzymes carry out many parasite-specific functions, which could be of potential interest to control parasite development and transmission. This review focuses on the moonlighting functions of P. falciparum glycolytic enzymes and unique structural differences and functional features of the parasite enzymes, which could be exploited for therapeutic and transmission blocking interventions against malaria.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Colaba, Mumbai 400005, India.
authors.forename: Asrar
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8529-1761
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alam
authors.affiliation: Department of Education and Research, Artemis Health Institute, Sector 51, Gurgaon, Haryana 122001, India.
authors.forename: Md Kausar
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Neyaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal 462066, India.
authors.forename: Syed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ikramul Hasan