Themosquito,Anopheles gambiae, is an important vector of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Full genome analysis revealed that, as in Drosophila melanogaster,the enzyme glutathione reductase is absent inA. gambiaeand func-tionally substituted by the thioredoxin system. The key enzyme of this system is thioredoxin reductase-1, a homo-dimeric FAD-containing protein of kDa per subunit, which catalyses the reaction NADPH + H + + thio-redoxin disulfidefiNADP + + thioredoxin dithiol.
