Figure 12
Potential interactions between PfSHMTc and PfSHMTm. The two protein sequence motifs identified in mammalian SHMTs (both cytoplasmic and mitochondrial isoforms; top two lines) essential for stable tetramer formation; bacterial SHMTs lack these motifs entirely and form stable dimers (bottom line; E. coli as example) [42]. SHMTc from P. falciparum and its orthologues from other Plasmodium species (P. vivax, P. knowlesi, P. yoelii and P. berghei, respectively) possess a highly conserved equivalent of Motif 1 only (blue text), whereas the SHMTm forms possess only Motif 2 (red text), suggesting that heterotetramers could be formed by a combination of (PfSHMTc)2 and (PfSHMTm)2.