Nuclear-encoded proteins target to the plastid in Toxoplasma gondii and Plasmodium falciparum.

ABSTRACT: A vestigial, nonphotosynthetic plastid has been identified recently in protozoan parasites of the phylum Apicomplexa. The apicomplexan plastid, or "apicoplast," is indispensable, but the complete sequence of both the Plasmodium falciparum and Toxoplasma gondii apicoplast genomes has offered no clue as to what essential metabolic function(s) this organelle might perform in parasites. To investigate possible functions of the apicoplast, we sought to identify nuclear-encoded genes whose products are targeted to the apicoplast in Plasmodium and Toxoplasma. We describe here nuclear genes encoding ribosomal proteins S9 and L28 and the fatty acid biosynthetic enzymes acyl carrier protein (ACP), beta-ketoacyl-ACP synthase III (FabH), and beta-hydroxyacyl-ACP dehydratase (FabZ). These genes show hi

SUBMITTER: Waller RF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC22835 | biostudies-literature | 1998 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature