Aminosugars metabolism

The metabolic pathway of aminosugars metabolism in Piroplasma species is same as the pathway in Toxoplasma gondii. Theileria annulata possesses gene orthologs for 4 of the seven enzymes of this pathway. The enzyme 2.3.1.4 missing in Plasmodium falciparum and T. gondii is also missing in all Piroplasma species. The enzymes, 2.4.1.141 and 2.4.1.119 are missing in the gene models of T. annulata, whereas both of them are present in Babesia bovis and 2.4.1.141 is present in Theileria parva. This pathway is important for the post-translational modification, N-linked glycosylation of proteins. N-linked glycosylation is the attachment of oligosaccharide chains to Asn in the tripeptide sequence Asn-X-Ser/Thr (X - any amino acid except Pro) of proteins and this facilitates the correct folding of some proteins.

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Sources and fates of metabolites