Cloning and characterization of the Plasmodium falciparum adenylosuccinatesynthetase gene

Parasitic protozoa lack the de novo purine biosynthetic pathway and rely ex clusively on the salvage pathway for their purine nucleotide requirements(1 ) Purine salvage enzymes are therefore potential chemotherapeutic targets, This paper reports the cloning and deduced amino acid sequence of Plasmodiu m falciparum adenylosuccinate synthetase (PfADSS), an enzyme involved in pu rine salvage. PfADSS exhibits 67% homology with that of the human enzyme. O n expression in E. coli, enzymatically active ADSS was produced as deduced by functional complementation analysis. The PfADSS activity was shown to be inhibited by hadacidin, a known competitive inhibitor of this enzyme.