T. cruzi is the agent responsible for Chagas' disease. TR shows great promise as a possible target for antiparasitic drugs; if TR could be inhibited, the protozoans would be unable to survive because of oxidative damage.
|
|
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
| Trypanothione reductase is a flavoprotein unique to pathogenic protozoans. It is used to maintain a reducing atmosphere in the oxidizing environment of the host. Trypanothione, similar to human glutathione, is oxidized during this process of protecting the parasite from the damages of oxidative species. The trypanothione must then be brought back to its reduced state in order for it to perform its function again. TR, here from the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, is the enzyme that does this, using NADPH to transfer electrons via FAD to trypanothione.
T. cruzi is the agent responsible for Chagas' disease. TR shows great promise as a possible target for antiparasitic drugs; if TR could be inhibited, the protozoans would be unable to survive because of oxidative damage. |
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
| Take a tour TR's active site | |||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||