Essential multimeric enzymes in kinetoplastid parasites: A host of potentially druggable protein-protein interactions.

Parasitic diseases caused by kinetoplastid parasites of the genera Trypanosoma and Leishmania are an urgent public health crisis in the developing world. These closely related species possess a number of multimeric enzymes in highly conserved pathways involved in vital functions, such as redox homeo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases
Main Authors: Leah M Wachsmuth, Meredith G Johnson, Jason Gavenonis
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005720
https://doaj.org/article/c5022e7318554ff1bb578a86e9ed4bd0
Description
Summary:Parasitic diseases caused by kinetoplastid parasites of the genera Trypanosoma and Leishmania are an urgent public health crisis in the developing world. These closely related species possess a number of multimeric enzymes in highly conserved pathways involved in vital functions, such as redox homeostasis and nucleotide synthesis. Computational alanine scanning of these protein-protein interfaces has revealed a host of potentially ligandable sites on several established and emerging anti-parasitic drug targets. Analysis of interfaces with multiple clustered hotspots has suggested several potentially inhibitable protein-protein interactions that may have been overlooked by previous large-scale analyses focusing solely on secondary structure. These protein-protein interactions provide a promising lead for the development of new peptide and macrocycle inhibitors of these enzymes.