atovaquone

MA displays anti-malarial activity at multiple intraerythrocytic stages of the parasite and, depending on the dose and incubation time, behaves as a plasmodial parasitostatic compound.

Although mitochondrial electron transport is a validated target of the antimalarial drug atovaquone, the molecular details underlying parasite demise are unclear.

Malaria is a global health problem that causes significant mortality and morbidity, with more than 1 million deaths per year caused by Plasmodium falciparum. Most antimalarial drugs face decreased efficacy due to the emergence of resistant parasites, which necessitates the discovery of new drugs.

A mutation was found on the P. chabaudi cytb gene from the AS-ATQ sample a substitution at the residue Tyr268 for an Asn, this mutation is homologous to the one found in P. falciparum isolates resistant to ATQ.

PCR-HRM is an inexpensive option for the determination of drug resistance profile in P. falciparum and will see increasing use as an alternative to sequencing and 5'nuclease PCR assays in reference laboratories or once PCR systems that are able to conduct HRM become commonplace.