Nature Communications (Aug 2020)

The natural function of the malaria parasite’s chloroquine resistance transporter

  • Sarah H. Shafik,
  • Simon A. Cobbold,
  • Kawthar Barkat,
  • Sashika N. Richards,
  • Nicole S. Lancaster,
  • Manuel Llinás,
  • Simon J. Hogg,
  • Robert L. Summers,
  • Malcolm J. McConville,
  • Rowena E. Martin

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17781-6
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 16

Abstract

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Plasmodium falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter (PfCRT) mediates multidrug resistance, but its natural function remains unclear. Here, Shafik et al. show that PfCRT transports host-derived peptides of 4-11 residues but not other ions or metabolites, and that drug-resistance-conferring PfCRT mutants have reduced peptide transport.