Publication Date:
2009-09-26
Description:
The emergence and spread of chloroquine-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasites has been a disaster for world health. Resistance is conferred by mutations in the Chloroquine Resistance Transporter (PfCRT), an integral membrane protein localized to the parasite's internal digestive vacuole. These mutations result in a marked reduction in the accumulation of chloroquine (CQ) by the parasite. However, the mechanism by which this occurs is unclear. We expressed both wild-type and resistant forms of PfCRT at the surface of Xenopus laevis oocytes. The resistant form of PfCRT transported CQ, whereas the wild-type protein did not. CQ transport via the mutant PfCRT was inhibited by CQ analogs and by the resistance-reverser verapamil. Thus, CQ resistance is due to direct transport of the drug via mutant PfCRT.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Martin, Rowena E -- Marchetti, Rosa V -- Cowan, Anna I -- Howitt, Susan M -- Broer, Stefan -- Kirk, Kiaran -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2009 Sep 25;325(5948):1680-2. doi: 10.1126/science.1175667.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia. rowena.martin@anu.edu.au〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19779197" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Amino Acid Sequence
;
Animals
;
Antimalarials/*metabolism/pharmacology
;
Biological Transport/drug effects
;
Cell Membrane/metabolism
;
Chloroquine/analogs & derivatives/*metabolism/pharmacology
;
Drug Resistance
;
Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
;
Membrane Potentials
;
Membrane Transport Proteins/chemistry/genetics/*metabolism
;
Molecular Sequence Data
;
Mutant Proteins/chemistry/metabolism
;
Mutation
;
Oligopeptides/pharmacology
;
Oocytes/metabolism
;
Plasmodium falciparum/drug effects/genetics/*metabolism
;
Protozoan Proteins/chemistry/genetics/*metabolism
;
Recombinant Proteins/chemistry/metabolism
;
Verapamil/pharmacology
;
Xenopus laevis
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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