Mutation of the Plasmodium falciparum Flavokinase Confers Resistance to Roseoflavin and 8-Aminoriboflavin

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The riboflavin analogues, roseoflavin and 8-aminoriboflavin, inhibit malaria parasite proliferation by targeting riboflavin utilization. To determine their mechanism of action, we generated roseoflavin-resistant parasites by in vitro evolution. Relative to wild-type, these parasites were 4-fold resistant to roseoflavin and cross-resistant to 8-aminoriboflavin. Whole genome sequencing of the resistant parasites revealed a missense mutation leading to an amino acid change (L672H) in the gene coding for a putative flavokinase ( Pf FK), the enzyme responsible for converting riboflavin into the cofactor flavin mononucleotide (FMN). To confirm that the L672H mutation is responsible for the phenotype, we generated parasites with the missense mutation incorporated into the Pf FK gene. The IC 50 values for roseoflavin and 8-aminoriboflavin against the roseoflavin-resistant parasites created through in vitro evolution were indistinguishable from those against parasites in which the missense mutation was introduced into the native Pf FK. We also generated two parasite lines episomally expressing GFP-tagged versions of either the wild-type or mutant forms of Pf FK. We found that Pf FK-GFP localizes to the parasite cytosol and that immunopurified Pf FK-GFP phosphorylated riboflavin, roseoflavin, and 8-aminoriboflavin. The L672H mutation increased the K M for roseoflavin, explaining the resistance phenotype. Mutant Pf FK is no longer capable of phosphorylating 8-aminoriboflavin, but its antiplasmodial activity against resistant parasites can still be antagonized by increasing the extracellular concentration of riboflavin, consistent with it also inhibiting parasite growth through competitive inhibition of Pf FK. Our findings, therefore, are consistent with roseoflavin and 8-aminoriboflavin inhibiting parasite proliferation by inhibiting riboflavin phosphorylation and via the generation of toxic flavin cofactor analogues.

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