Prediction of potential antimalarial targets of artemisinin based on protein information from whole genome of Plasmodium falciparum

On the basis of the genomic data and protein pathway information about Plasmodium falciparum clone 3D7 from the NCBI taxonomy database and the KEGG database, eight key protein enzymes in the signal pathways were selected to perform molecular docking with artemisinin. The binding modes obtained from the molecular docking suggested that purine nucleoside phosphorylase (pfPNP), peptide defor-mylase (pfPDF), and ribose 5-phosphate isomerase (pfRpiA) may be involved in the antimalarial mode of action of artemisinin. Artemisinin exhibited its antimalarial activity probably by interfering with the metabolic pathways of purine, pyrimidine, methionine, glyoxylate and dicarboxylate, or pentose phosphate.