Malaria remains a major infectious disease and, despite incidence reduction, it threatens resurgence in drug-resistant forms. Antimalarial drugs remain the mainstay of therapeutic options and hence there is a constant need to identify and validate new druggable targets. Plasmodium falciparum aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (Pf-aaRSs) drive protein translation and are potent targets for development of next-generation antimalarials. Here, we detail advances made in structural-biology-based investigations in Pf-aaRSs and discuss their distribution of druggable pockets. This review establishes a platform for systematic experimental dissection of malarial parasite aaRSs as a new focus for sustained drug development efforts against malaria.

疟疾仍然是一种主要的传染病，尽管发病率有所降低，但它仍以耐药性形式重新流行。抗疟药仍然是治疗选择的主要手段，因此始终需要确定和验证新的可药物治疗靶标。恶性疟原虫氨酰基-tRNA合成酶（Pf - aRSs）驱动蛋白质翻译，并且是开发下一代抗疟疾药物的有效靶标。在这里，我们详细介绍了PfaRSs中基于结构生物学的研究取得的进展，并讨论了它们在可药用囊袋中的分布。这项审查建立了一个平台，系统性地对疟原虫aaRSs进行实验解剖，将其作为持续研发抗疟疾工作的新重点。