Exploiting structural biology in the fight against parasitic diseases

Despite spectacular advances in structural biology over the past half-century, only approximately 2% of the structures in the Protein Data Bank are from eukaryotic parasites and less than 0.5% are from multicellular parasites. Even when only major human pathogens are considered, 3D structures of parasites are vastly underrepresented. Yet approximately one-third of the global burden of human disease comes from parasites. It is time to divert greater effort and resources in structural biology to benefit the fight against parasitic diseases. Using as leverage recent technological and methodological advances, a concerted effort to determine macromolecular structures from parasite pathogens would provide invaluable mechanistic insights on vital processes of the parasites and would suggest novel strategies for inhibiting infection.