Glutamate metabolism

Glutamate and glutamine are non-essential amino acids in both Toxoplasma gondii and Plasmodium falciparum as in humans, whereas glutamine is an essential amino acid utilised from host in Piroplasma species. This is because glutamine synthetase ezyme which catalyses glutamate to glutamine conversion is absent in these Piroplasma species. The favourable ecological niches of these parasites within hosts and the absence of parasitophorous vacuoles provide these parasites with the advantage of their ability to fulfil several amino acid requirements including asparagine, glutamine and proline from the host. The activity of aspartate transaminase enzyme of this pathway was assayed by Kiama et al in Theileria parva schizont and transamination of oxaloacetate with glutamate plays an important role in the carbon metabolism of this parasite [1].

List of genes annotated as tRNA-Glu in B. bovis genome

List of genes annotated as tRNA-Gln in B. bovis genome

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Sources and fates of metabolites