Bioinformatics of thymidine metabolism in Trypanosoma evansi: exploring nucleoside deoxyribosyltransferase (NDRT) as a drug target

In this study, the thymidine metabolic pathways in camel and T. evansi were compared by analyzing their metabolic maps, protein sequences, domain and motif contents, phylogenetic relationships, and 3D structure models. The two organisms were revealed to recycle thymidine differently: performed by thymidine phosphorylase in camels (Camelus genus), this role in T. evansi was associated with nucleoside deoxyribosyltransferase (NDRT), a unique trypanosomal enzyme absent in camels. Thymidine in T. evansi seems to be governed by thymine through NDRT, whereas in camels, thymidine can be produced from thymidylate via 5'-nucleotidase. As a result, NDRT may be a promising drug target against T. evansi.PMID:34508338 | DOI:10.47665/tb.38.3.071
Source: Tropical Biomedicine - Category: Tropical Medicine Authors: Source Type: research