Research Projects

Understanding the biochemical pathways essential for parasite growth and survival can help develop novel therapeutics. The aspartate pathway, found in plants and bacterial strains, produces multiple amino acids like lysine, threonine, methionine, and isoleucine. The enzyme homoserine dehydrogenase (HSD) is essential for this pathway and is present in fungi, archaea, and gram-positive bacteria. The amnio acid threonine is crucial for the survival of trypanosomes and lipid biosynthesis. The CRISPR-Cas9 system can facilitate gene editing of HSD, which is more efficient than homologous recombination for genetic manipulation in Leishmania.