Tsekoa, Tsepo LMakungo, TMancama, Dalubuhle T2012-08-232012-08-232012-07Tsekoa, TL, Makungo, T and Mancama, D.T. Molecular Modelling of Calcium Dependent Protein Kinase 4 (CDPK4) from Plasmodium falciparum. South African Institute of Physics 2012 Conference, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 9-13 July 2012http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6061South African Institute of Physics 2012 Conference, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 9-13 July 2012Malaria continues to be one of the most serious global health challenges. The increasing incidence of drug resistant Plasmodium strains has emphasised the need for urgent action in the development of new therapeutic strategies against this disease. Development of new drug targets is of vital importance in this regard. The recent availability of genomic information and the resultant observation that in many instances, protein kinases from parasitic protozoa are phylogenetically distant from those in humans has established this group of enzymes as potential drug targets in the Malaria parasite. One of the differences from the host kinome identified in Plasmodia was the presence of calcium dependent protein kinases (CDPKs), normally only found in plants. In order to rationally design novel inhibitors and chemical tools exclusively targeting CDPKs, reliable molecular structures are needed. High resolution structures will also enable in silico screening to identify new leads. Structural Bioinformatics, specifically molecular modelling, can contribute immensely to improving access to structural information for these challenging targets. Here, a three dimensional structure of PfCDPK4 created by homology modelling is reported. Further, the model is used as a receptor for in silico screening of a large chemical library. Future work will aim to screen a prioritised subset of the library in vitro and to study the structures of PfCDPK4 in complex with identified hits by X-ray crystallography.enMalariaDrug resistant Plasmodium strainsDrug resistanceCalcium dependent protein kinasesCDPKsProtein kinasesConference PresentationTsekoa, T. L., Makungo, T., & Mancama, D. T. (2012). Molecular Modelling of Calcium Dependent Protein Kinase 4 (CDPK4) from Plasmodium falciparum. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6061Tsekoa, Tsepo L, T Makungo, and Dalubuhle T Mancama. "Molecular Modelling of Calcium Dependent Protein Kinase 4 (CDPK4) from Plasmodium falciparum." (2012): http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6061Tsekoa TL, Makungo T, Mancama DT, Molecular Modelling of Calcium Dependent Protein Kinase 4 (CDPK4) from Plasmodium falciparum; 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6061 .TY - Conference Presentation AU - Tsekoa, Tsepo L AU - Makungo, T AU - Mancama, Dalubuhle T AB - Malaria continues to be one of the most serious global health challenges. The increasing incidence of drug resistant Plasmodium strains has emphasised the need for urgent action in the development of new therapeutic strategies against this disease. Development of new drug targets is of vital importance in this regard. The recent availability of genomic information and the resultant observation that in many instances, protein kinases from parasitic protozoa are phylogenetically distant from those in humans has established this group of enzymes as potential drug targets in the Malaria parasite. One of the differences from the host kinome identified in Plasmodia was the presence of calcium dependent protein kinases (CDPKs), normally only found in plants. In order to rationally design novel inhibitors and chemical tools exclusively targeting CDPKs, reliable molecular structures are needed. High resolution structures will also enable in silico screening to identify new leads. Structural Bioinformatics, specifically molecular modelling, can contribute immensely to improving access to structural information for these challenging targets. Here, a three dimensional structure of PfCDPK4 created by homology modelling is reported. Further, the model is used as a receptor for in silico screening of a large chemical library. Future work will aim to screen a prioritised subset of the library in vitro and to study the structures of PfCDPK4 in complex with identified hits by X-ray crystallography. DA - 2012-07 DB - ResearchSpace DP - CSIR KW - Malaria KW - Drug resistant Plasmodium strains KW - Drug resistance KW - Calcium dependent protein kinases KW - CDPKs KW - Protein kinases LK - https://researchspace.csir.co.za PY - 2012 T1 - Molecular Modelling of Calcium Dependent Protein Kinase 4 (CDPK4) from Plasmodium falciparum TI - Molecular Modelling of Calcium Dependent Protein Kinase 4 (CDPK4) from Plasmodium falciparum UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10204/6061 ER -