The tetrameric structure of Plasmodium falciparum phosphoglycerate mutase is critical for optimal enzymatic activity

The glycolytic enzyme phosphoglycerate mutase (PGM) is of utmost importance for overall cellular metabolism and has emerged as a novel therapeutic target in cancer cells. This enzyme is also conserved in the rapidly proliferating malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum, which have a similar metabolic framework as cancer cells and rely on glycolysis as the sole energy-yielding process during intraerythrocytic development. There is no redundancy among the annotated PGM enzymes in Plasmodium, and PfPGM1 is absolutely required for the parasite survival as evidenced by conditional knockdown in our study. A detailed comparison of PfPGM1 with its counterparts followed by in-depth structure-function analysis revealed unique attributes of this parasitic protein. Here, we report for the first time the importance of oligomerization for the optimal functioning of the enzyme in vivo, as earlier studies in eukaryotes only focused on the effects in vitro. We show that single point mutation of the amino acid residue W68 led to complete loss of tetramerization and diminished catalytic activity in vitro. Additionally, ectopic expression of the WT PfPGM1 protein enhanced parasite growth, whereas the monomeric form of PfPGM1 failed to provide growth advantage. Furthermore, mutation of the evolutionarily conserved residue K100 led to a drastic reduction in enzymatic activity. The indispensable nature of this parasite enzyme highlights the potential of PfPGM1 as a therapeutic target against malaria, and targeting the interfacial residues critical for oligomerization can serve as a focal point for promising drug development strategies that may not be restricted to malaria only.