tRNA synthetases as drug targets in Plasmodium falciparum

Grant number: FT0990350 | Funding period: 2010 - 2013

Completed

Abstract

Malaria is a major worldwide infectious disease. The disease kills around 2 million people every year, and current drugs are increasingly failing due to parasite drug resistance, creating an urgent demand for new drugs, that inhibit different targets. The Fellow will study a new class of parasite drug targets, the transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) synthetase enzymes to find novel inhibitors. Compounds blocking these enzymes may lead to new drugs to combat malaria.

Related publications (18)

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Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases as drug targets in eukaryotic parasites

James S Pham, Karen L Dawson, Katherine E Jackson, Erin E Lim, Charisse Flerida A Pasaje, Kelsey EC Turner, Stuart A Ralph

2014-04-01

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are central enzymes in protein translation, providing the charged tRNAs needed for appropriate construc..

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A dual-targeted aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase in Plasmodium falciparum charges cytosolic and apicoplast tRNA(Cys)

James S Pham, Reiko Sakaguchi, Lee M Yeoh, Nilushi S De Silva, Geoffrey I McFadden, Ya-Ming Hou, Stuart A Ralph

2014-03-15

Plasmodium parasites possess two endosymbiotic organelles: a mitochondrion and a relict plastid called the apicoplast. To accommod..

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An FtsH Protease Is Recruited to the Mitochondrion of Plasmodium falciparum

Aiman Tanveer, Stacey M Allen, Katherine E Jackson, Manish Charan, Stuart A Ralph, Saman Habib

2013-09-13

The two organelles, apicoplast and mitochondrion, of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum have unique morphology in liver an..

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Electron tomography of Plasmodium falciparum merozoites reveals core cellular events that underpin erythrocyte invasion

Eric Hanssen, Chaitali Dekiwadia, David T Riglar, Melanie Rug, Leandro Lemgruber, Alan F Cowman, Marek Cyrklaff, Mikhail Kudryashev, Friedrich Frischknecht, Jake Baum, Stuart A Ralph

2013-09-01

Erythrocyte invasion by merozoites forms of the malaria parasite is a key step in the establishment of human malaria disease. To d..

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Recycling factors for ribosome disassembly in the apicoplast and mitochondrion of Plasmodium falciparum

Ankit Gupta, Snober S Mir, Katherine E Jackson, Erin E Lim, Priyanka Shah, Ashima Sinha, Mohammad Imran Siddiqi, Stuart A Ralph, Saman Habib

2013-06-01

The reduced genomes of the apicoplast and mitochondrion of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum are actively translated and ..

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Cryo-electron tomography reveals four-membrane architecture of the Plasmodium apicoplast

Leandro Lemgruber, Mikhail Kudryashev, Chaitali Dekiwadia, David T Riglar, Jake Baum, Henning Stahlberg, Stuart A Ralph, Friedrich Frischknecht

2013-01-19

BACKGROUND: The apicoplast is a plastid organelle derived from a secondary endosymbiosis, containing biosynthetic pathways essenti..

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Determination of protein subcellular localization in apicomplexan parasites

Ben J Woodcroft, Paul J McMillan, Chaitali Dekiwadia, Leann Tilley, Stuart A Ralph

2012-12-01

Parasites from the phylum Apicomplexa include causative agents of serious diseases including malaria (Plasmodium spp.) and toxopla..

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In silico prediction of antimalarial drug target candidates

Philipp Ludin, Ben Woodcroft, Stuart A Ralph, Pascal Maeser

2012-12-01

The need for new antimalarials is persistent due to the emergence of drug resistant parasites. Here we aim to identify new drug ta..

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Malaria Parasite Signal Peptide Peptidase is an ER-Resident Protease Required for Growth but not for Invasion

Danushka S Marapana, Danny W Wilson, Elizabeth S Zuccala, Chaitali D Dekiwadia, James G Beeson, Stuart A Ralph, Jake Baum

2012-11-01

The establishment of parasite infection within the human erythrocyte is an essential stage in the development of malaria disease. ..

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Subcompartmentalisation of Proteins in the Rhoptries Correlates with Ordered Events of Erythrocyte Invasion by the Blood Stage Malaria Parasite

Elizabeth S Zuccala, Alexander M Gout, Chaitali Dekiwadia, Danushka S Marapana, Fiona Angrisano, Lynne Turnbull, David T Riglar, Kelly L Rogers, Cynthia B Whitchurch, Stuart A Ralph, Terence P Speed, Jake Baum

2012-09-25

Host cell infection by apicomplexan parasites plays an essential role in lifecycle progression for these obligate intracellular pa..

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Dual targeting of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases to the apicoplast and cytosol in Plasmodium falciparum

Katherine E Jackson, James S Pham, Michelle Kwek, Nilushi S De Silva, Stacey M Allen, Christopher D Goodman, Geoffrey I McFadden, Lluis Ribas de Pouplana, Stuart A Ralph

2012-02-01

The causative agent of malaria, Plasmodium, possesses three translationally active compartments: the cytosol, the mitochondrion an..

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Organellar proteomics reveals hundreds of novel nuclear proteins in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum

Sophie C Oehring, Ben J Woodcroft, Suzette Moes, Johanna Wetzel, Olivier Dietz, Andreas Pulfer, Chaitali Dekiwadia, Pascal Maeser, Christian Flueck, Kathrin Witmer, Nicolas MB Brancucci, Igor Niederwieser, Paul Jenoe, Stuart A Ralph, Till S Voss

2012-01-01

BACKGROUND: The post-genomic era of malaria research provided unprecedented insights into the biology of Plasmodium parasites. Due..

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Protein translation in Plasmodium parasites

Katherine E Jackson, Saman Habib, Magali Frugier, Rob Hoen, Sameena Khan, James S Pham, Lluis Ribas de Pouplana, Miriam Royo, Manuel AS Santos, Amit Sharma, Stuart A Ralph

2011-10-01

The protein translation machinery of the parasite Plasmodium is the target of important anti-malarial drugs, and encompasses many ..

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Plasmodium falciparum Merozoite Invasion Is Inhibited by Antibodies that Target the PfRh2a and b Binding Domains

Tony Triglia, Lin Chen, Sash Lopaticki, Chaitali Dekiwadia, David T Riglar, Anthony N Hodder, Stuart A Ralph, Jake Baum, Alan F Cowman

2011-06-01

Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of the most severe form of malaria in humans invades erythrocytes using multiple ligand..

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Super-Resolution Dissection of Coordinated Events during Malaria Parasite Invasion of the Human Erythrocyte

David T Riglar, Dave Richard, Danny W Wilson, Michelle J Boyle, Chaitali Dekiwadia, Lynne Turnbull, Fiona Angrisano, Danushka S Marapana, Kelly L Rogers, Cynthia B Whitchurch, James G Beeson, Alan F Cowman, Stuart A Ralph, Jake Baum

2011-01-20

Erythrocyte invasion by the merozoite is an obligatory stage in Plasmodium parasite infection and essential to malaria disease pro..

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Isolation of viable Plasmodium falciparum merozoites to define erythrocyte invasion events and advance vaccine and drug development

Michelle J Boyle, Danny W Wilson, Jack S Richards, David T Riglar, Kevin KA Tetteh, David J Conway, Stuart A Ralph, Jake Baum, James G Beeson

2010-08-10

During blood-stage infection by Plasmodium falciparum, merozoites invade RBCs. Currently there is limited knowledge of cellular an..

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Novel vacuoles in Toxoplasma

Giel G van Dooren, Stuart A Ralph

2010-06-01

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Drug target prediction and prioritization: using orthology to predict essentiality in parasite genomes

Maria A Doyle, Robin B Gasser, Ben J Woodcroft, Ross S Hall, Stuart A Ralph

2010-04-03

BACKGROUND: New drug targets are urgently needed for parasites of socio-economic importance. Genes that are essential for parasite..

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