Crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic study of 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate reductoisomerase from Plasmodium falciparum

The nonmevalonate pathway of isoprenoid biosynthesis present in Plasmodium falciparum is known to be an effective target for antimalarial drugs. The second enzyme of the nonmevalonate pathway, 1-deoxy-d-xylulose 5-phosphate reductoisomerase (DXR), catalyzes the transformation of 1-deoxy-d-xylulose 5-phosphate (DXP) to 2-C-methyl-d-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP). For crystallographic studies, DXR from the human malaria parasite P. falciparum (PfDXR) was overproduced in Escherichia coli, purified and crystallized using the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method in the presence of NADPH. X-ray diffraction data to 1.85 angstrom resolution were collected from a monoclinic crystal form belonging to space group C2 with unit-cell parameters a = 168.89, b = 59.65, c = 86.58 angstrom, beta = 117.8 degrees. Structural analysis by molecular replacement is in progress.