Amplification and in silico Study of Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum LDH Gene

Abstract

Several arsenal as well as quinolone drugs are available for treatment of malaria; still it remains a worldwide public health problem. Malarial parasite quickly develops resistance under selective drug pressure. Hence, we require an array of new drugs for malaria treatment. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) is an essential enzyme for Plasmodia as they lack functional Krebs cycle in some stages of their lifecycle and thereby prove to be good targets for antimalarial drugs. It is also highly valuable for accurate and early malaria diagnosis. In our study, samples were collected from patients before and after treatment. Samples showing > 25% parasitemia after 48 h of treatment were selected for amplification of PvLDH and PfLDH genes. Sequences obtained were aligned with other Plasmodial and human LDH sequences. There was significant dissimilarity found between Plasmodial and human LDH, suggesting it as a good antimalarial target protein. The Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax sample strains are phyllogenetically found closely related with P. falciparum isolate mzr I LDH and P. vivax isolate ori I LDH respectively.