Biogenesis of cytochromes c and c₁ in the electron transport chain of malaria parasites.

ABSTRACT: Plasmodium malaria parasites retain an essential mitochondrional electron transport chain (ETC) that is critical for growth within humans and mosquitoes and a key antimalarial drug target. ETC function requires cytochromes c and c₁ that are unusual among heme proteins due to their covalent binding to heme via conserved CXXCH sequence motifs. Heme attachment to these proteins in most eukaryotes requires the mitochondrial enzyme holocytochrome c synthase (HCCS) that binds heme and the apo cytochrome to facilitate biogenesis of the mature cytochrome c or c₁. Although humans encode a single bifunctional HCCS that attaches heme to both proteins, Plasmodium parasites are like yeast and encode two separate HCCS homologs though

SUBMITTER: Garcia-Guerrero AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10862854 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature