FEBS Letters
Volume 584, Issue 3 , Pages 549-554, 5 February 2010

The carbon and energy sources of the non-photosynthetic plastid in the malaria parasite

Edited by Ulf-Ingo Flügge

This work is dedicated in memory of Dr. Kylie A. Mullin, whose ardor and fighting spirit will always be an inspiration.

  • Liting Lim

      Affiliations

    • School of Botany, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia
    • ,
  • Marc Linka

      Affiliations

    • Institute for Plant Biochemistry, Heinrich Heine University, Geb. 26.03.01, Universitaetsstrasse 1, Duesseldorf 40225, Germany
    • ,
  • Kylie A. Mullin

      Affiliations

    • School of Botany, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia
    • ,
  • Andreas P.M. Weber

      Affiliations

    • Institute for Plant Biochemistry, Heinrich Heine University, Geb. 26.03.01, Universitaetsstrasse 1, Duesseldorf 40225, Germany
    • ,
  • Geoffrey I. McFadden

      Affiliations

    • School of Botany, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Fax: +61 3 93471071.

Received 5 November 2009; received in revised form 30 November 2009; accepted 30 November 2009. published online 07 December 2009.

Abstract 

The malaria parasite harbours an indispensable plastid known as the ‘apicoplast’. The apicoplast’s exact role remains uncertain, but it houses components involved in fatty acid, isoprenoid and haem biosyntheses. These pathways offer opportunities to develop anti-malarials. In the absence of photosynthesis, how apicoplast anabolism is fuelled is unclear. Here we investigated plant-like transporters of the apicoplast and measured their substrate preferences using a novel cell-free assay system to explore the carbon and energy sources of the apicoplast. The transporters exchange triose phosphate and phosphoenolpyruvate for inorganic phosphate, demonstrating that the apicoplast taps into host-derived glucose to fuel its metabolism.

Keywords: Plastid, Apicoplast, Malaria, Carbon, Energy, Plasmodium

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PII: S0014-5793(09)01040-0

doi:10.1016/j.febslet.2009.11.097

FEBS Letters
Volume 584, Issue 3 , Pages 549-554, 5 February 2010

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