Leishmaniasis ranks the third in disease burden in disability-adjusted life years caused by neglected tropical diseases and is the second cause of parasite-related deaths after malaria; but for a variety of reasons, it is not receiving the attention that would be justified seeing its importance. Leishmaniasis is a diverse group of clinical syndromes caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania. It is estimated that 350 million people are at risk in 88 countries, with a global incidence of 1–1.5 million cases of cutaneous and 500,000 cases of visceral leishmaniasis. Improvements in diagnostic methods for early case detection and latest combitorial chemotherapeutic methods have given a new hope for combating this deadly disease. The cell biology of Leishmania and mammalian cells differs considerably and this distinctness extends to the biochemical level. This provides the promise that many of the parasite's proteins should be sufficiently different from hosts and can be successfully exploited as drug targets. This paper gives a brief overview of recent developments in the diagnosis and approaches in antileishmanial drug discovery and development.

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Squalene synthase (SSN, EC 2.5.1.21), a major enzyme in the sterol biosynthetic pathway, catalyses an unusual head-to-head reductive dimerization of two molecules of farnesyl-pyrophosphate (FPP) in a two-step reaction to form squalene. FPP serves as a metabolic intermediate in the formation of sterols, dolichols, ubiquinones and farnesylated proteins. Here, we report cloning, expression and purification of a catalytically active recombinant squalene synthase of Leishmania donovani (LdSSN). The pH and temperature optima of LdSSN were 7.4 and 37°C, respectively. Biochemical studies revealed that the K(m) and V(max) for the substrate FPP were 3.8 μM and 0.59 nM min(-1) mg(-1) and for NADPH were 43.23 μM and 0.56 nM min(-1) mg(-1). LdSSN was found to be sensitive towards denaturants as manifested by a loss of enzyme activity at the concentration of 1 M urea or 0.25 M guanidine hydrochloride. Zaragozic acid A, a potent inhibitor of mammalian SSN, was also a competitive inhibitor of recombinant LdSSN, with a K(i) of 74 nM. This is the first report on the purification and characterization of full-length recombinant SSN from L. donovani. Studies on recombinant LdSSN will help in evaluating this enzyme as a potential drug target for visceral leishmaniasis.

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: Enzymes are the biocatalysts synthesized by living organisms having high specificity, catalytic activity, and a broad range of applicability. One such biotechnologicaly relevant enzyme is keratinase with various industrial application that captures a significant place in the enzyme market. It belongs to the proteolytic enzyme group that cleaves the highly stable and fibrous protein, keratin through hydrolysis. Keratins are hard- corrupting sinewy proteins insoluble in natural solvents and water. It is frequently aggregated in nature and expressively present in the plumes, hair, nail, horn, skins, feet, etc. The maximum range of microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes have been accounted for producing keratinases with significant biotechnological applications. Successful application of this group of enzymes have been seen in various industries such as farming, laundry detergent, cosmetics, animal feed, pharmaceutical, leather, and textile. Moreover they have found remarkable usability in environmentally friendly waste management also. This paper focuses on the structure, sources, and various applications of this industrially important enzyme.