Fast and low-cost evaluation of hydroxykynurenine activity

The enzyme 3-hydroxykynurenine transaminase (HKT) acts as an important enzyme in tryptophan catabolism of disease-carrier insects, e.g. Aedes aegypti and Anopheles gambiae. HKT is a detoxification enzyme that converts 3-hydroxykynurenine (a precursor for reactive nitrogen and oxygen species) into xanthurenic acid (stable and nontoxic compound). We have previously synthesized eleven new oxadiazole derivatives and demonstrated their noncompetitive inhibitory activity towards HKT from A. aegypti • It is faster and cheaper than HPLC-based assays because it does not require the use of chromatography columns and solvents to separate reaction components; • It uses of 96-well plates, enabling the simultaneous quantification of samples; • It can be applied to all transaminases that have xanthurenic acid as a product.