Crystal Structure of Dihydrofolate Reductase from Plasmodium Vivax: Pyrimethamine Displacement Linked with Mutation-Induced Resistance.
Kongsaeree, P., Khongsuk, P., Leartsakulpanich, U., Chitnumsub, P., Tarnchompoo, B., Walkinshaw, M.D., Yuthavong, Y.(2005) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 102: 13046
- PubMed: 16135570 
- DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0501747102
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
2BL9, 2BLA, 2BLB, 2BLC - PubMed Abstract: 
Pyrimethamine (Pyr) targets dihydrofolate reductase of Plasmodium vivax (PvDHFR) as well as other malarial parasites, but its use as antimalarial is hampered by the widespread high resistance. Comparison of the crystal structures of PvDHFR from wild-type and the Pyr-resistant (SP21, Ser-58 --> Arg + Ser-117 --> Asn) strain as complexes with NADPH and Pyr or its analog lacking p-Cl (Pyr20) clearly shows that the steric conflict arising from the side chain of Asn-117 in the mutant enzyme, accompanied by the loss of binding to Ser-120, is mainly responsible for the reduction in binding of Pyr ...