Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia. kiaran.kirk@anu.edu.au
In a recent paper, Quashie et al. have proposed that purine uptake into the intraerythrocytic malaria parasite involves four different plasma membrane transporters - two high affinity and two low affinity. They equate one of the two high-affinity transporters with PfNT1, a transporter reported previously to be a low-affinity system. Here, we offer an alternative interpretation of their data, suggesting that the conclusions drawn by Quashie et al. take insufficient account of metabolism.