Comparative studies on dihydrofolate reductases from Plasmodium falciparum and Aotus trivirgatus

Dihydrofolate reductase (E.C. 1.5.1.3) from Plasmodium falciparum and from its host, the owl monkey (Aotus trivirgatus), were partially purified and characterized. The molecular weight of the parasite enzyme was estimated to be over 10 times as high as that of the host enzyme. The host enzyme had 2 pH optima whereas the parasite enzyme only one. The activity of the host enzyme was greatly stimulated by KCl and urea, while that of the parasite enzyme was inhibited at high concentrations of such chaotropic agents. Km of the parasite enzyme was significantly higher than that of the host enzyme. The parasite enzyme had much lower Ki for pyrimethamine than the host enzyme. Dihydrofolate reductases isolated from pyrimethamine-resistant and pyrimethamine sensitive strains of P. falciparum were found to be similar.