In silico characterization of Plasmodium falciparum purinergic receptor: a novel chemotherapeutic target.

Serpentine receptors with G-protein coupled receptor like seven transmembrane (7 TM) topology are identified in Plasmodium. A class of 7 TM receptors known as purinergic receptors binds to purines such as ADP, ATP and UTP and mediates important physiological functions including regulation of calcium signaling. Here we performed in silico analysis of Plasmodium falciparum serpentine receptors and found that one of the P. falciparum serpentine receptors, PfSR12 possess nucleotide binding consensus P-loop sequence in addition to seven transmembrane domains. The presence of conserved seven transmembrane domains and a consensus nucleotide binding sequence (P-loop) suggest that PfSR12 is a putative purinergic receptor. On further analysis using docking programmes we found four active binding residues Asn149, Lys150, Asn151 and Gly152 in P-loop of PfSR12, interact with ATP. This work gives insights into the interactions between putative purinergic receptor PfSR12 and its ligand ATP which can be explored in structure based drug designing against malaria.