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Hindi Conference Proceeding
Ribokinase: A Possible Target for Chemotherapy of Protozoans
Ogbunude POJ1*, Udeogaranya PO2, Eze AA1, Ikekpeazu JE1 and Okoli UA11Department of Medical Biochemistry, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Nigeria
2Department of Clinical Pharmacy, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
- Corresponding Author:
- Patrick Ogbunude
Department of Medical Biochemistry
University of Nigeria
Enugu Campus, Nigeria
Tel: +2348033101851
E-mail: ogbunudejim@yahoo.co.uk
Received date: December 31, 2015; Accepted date: February 22, 2016; Published date: February 29, 2016
Citation: Ogbunude POJ, Udeogaranya PO, Eze AA, Ikekpeazu JE, Okoli UA (2016) Ribokinase: A Possible Target for Chemotherapy of Protozoans. J Biotechnol Biomater 6:219. doi:10.4172/2155-952X.1000219
Copyright: © 2016 Ogbunude POJ, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
The development of anti-parasitic agent is quite challenging particularly when exploiting biochemical differences between the parasite and the host. However, with post-genome bioinformatics and experimental research, drug targets can be more easily identified. Ribose metabolism in protozoans is of interest because protozoa in general are auxotrophic for purines and acquire these nutrients from the hosts1. Ribose is utilized in the production of ribose 5-phosphate required for the synthesis of 5-phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate that is used with purine bases for the synthesis of nucleic acids. The enzyme responsible for the conversion of ribose to ribose 5-phosphate is ribokinase (an ATP-dependent phosphoribosyl kinase, EC 2.1.7.15). Four possible pathways exist for mobilization of free nucleobases for the synthesis of nucleic acids in protozoans, three of these use ribokinase and one uses transketolase / transaldolase pathway. Inhibition of these pathways, that is, the ribokinase pathway and transketolase / transaldolase pathway will deny the parasites ability to use the nucleobases to make nucleic acids.
