Aspartate aminotransferase: bridging carbohydrate and energy metabolism in Plasmodium falciparum.

In this mini-review we briefly examine and summarize evidence on the role of the plasmodial aspartate aminotransferase (AspAT) of the malarial parasite. Recent data have provided information on the products of the purine salvage pathway as well as the glycolytic and oxidative phosphorylation pathways, suggesting that the reaction catalyzed by AspAT is an essential step in all these biochemical processes. While the biological role of the oxidative phosphorylation cycle still remains to be demonstrated, the presence of a single protein that is functional in multiple pathways (i.e. amino acid/purine/pyrimidine biosynthesis and carbohydrate metabolism) provides a high potential for the development of novel strategies to combat the spread of multi-drug resistant malaria.