Abstract 1744 Bacterial expression of helminth aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases

Helminths are a group of parasites, including flatworms, hookworms, tapeworms, flukes, and whipworms, which infect humans as well as agricultural animals. The WHO classifies diseases caused by helminths, which include lymphatic filariasis, gastrointestinal symptoms, blindness, and sometimes death, as "Neglected Tropical Diseases". As crucial enzymes for protein synthesis in any organism, aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) are potential targets for novel anti-helminthics. Focusing on helminth ARSs with significant differences from their human homologs, we have set out to express and characterize several of these enzymes. Bacterial expression of two cytosolic enzymes, E. granulosus MetRS and S. mansoni GlnRS, yielded soluble protein when expressed as fusions with an N-terminal SUMO tag. Current work is focused on characterizing the enzymes. Work on identification and removal of mitochondrial targeting sequences from helminth mt AlaRS and ArgRS in order to improve bacterial expression, will also be presented.